


Conversations

by REDDuke62



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Gen, Season 3 AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-08
Updated: 2018-04-25
Packaged: 2018-10-01 05:21:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 23,386
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10181558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/REDDuke62/pseuds/REDDuke62
Summary: A Collection of primarily conversation-based events for an abandoned story involving Oliver Queen and other heroes in the Arrowverse.





	1. Two Billionaires

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first episode in a series of pieces that would have culminated in the formation of the Justice League. I have three episodes written or mostly written. I may actually finish the fourth episode as well, but once I started building the long term plot to the story, these episodes no longer fit, so I'm going to post them as an incomplete story and leave it at that.
> 
> This is set some time after the end of Season 2. Oliver regained control of Queen Consolidated and gave Felicity a position in the company more deserving of her talents. There was still a struggle with Ra's al Ghul of some kind, but it didn't play out as it did during season 3 and the details don't matter much to the story. (Although the eventual end of season 3 is what messed up the original plot for this story and caused me to start re-writing it).

Kari Dunlop looked up from her desk at the sound of the elevator opening. The pretty, dark haired girl had quickly acquired the habit when she became Oliver Queen’s Executive Assistant. Part of her awareness was due to all the stories she had heard about eventful goings on during Mr. Queen’s previous tenure as CEO of Queen Consolidated. It seems that he sometimes had visitors bent on shooting him instead of just asking for his money or seeking to do business with his company. She fortunately hadn’t experienced any of that, however. Even she wasn’t under attack, she wanted to respond quickly to any visitors to the executive offices.

And sometimes, as with the current arrival, it allowed her the luxury of just watching the visitor stroll across the open floor outside the offices. The man was tall and dark; his perfect medium-length jet-black hair topped a clean-shaven, extremely handsome face. His smile, while subtle, showed a hint of amusement, but at what, the secretary couldn’t guess. The man walked like an athlete, with a grace and sense of balance that bespoke well-trained muscles. His perfectly tailored suit did little to conceal his athletic physique. The jacket showcased his broad shoulders and powerful biceps, while his thin waist was obvious even under the jacket.

Kari straightened up a little further than she normally sat, uncrossed her long legs under the desk, and smiled a little more than she already was. She then shook her head a little as he pulled up to her desk. She hoped that she hadn’t been too obvious in staring at the man, but wasn’t really sure she cared. Staring at this visitor was well worth the possible embarrassment, and it’s not like she didn’t see a lot of handsome men on a regular basis. She did work for Oliver Queen, after all.

“Good morning, Kari,” the handsome man began, after a quick glance at the nameplate on the front of her desk. His smile widened, exuding every bit of charm he had. “I’m Bruce Wayne, and if all possible, I would like to have some time with Mr. Queen this afternoon.”

Kari was immediately a little star struck. She knew that WayneTech had several joint projects going with Queen Technologies, but this was the first time that Bruce Wayne had shown up to meet with Oliver since Oliver had regained control of the company. His press did not do him justice, she decided.

“Of course, sir. Let me just check with Mr. Queen to make sure that he hasn’t added anything to his schedule that I’m not aware of.” Kari stood, subconsciously smoothing her dark skirt, and walked around the desktop to go to the door of Queen’s office. She could feel Wayne’s eyes on her as she walked, and she again silently thanked herself for wearing the black heels this morning. As she looked in through the glass doors, she could see that Oliver was already aware of his visitor. A small smirk of amusement played around the edges of his mouth. She realized that it was rare that he found humor in the simple arrival of a visitor.

Even though he was obviously aware of her approach, she knocked once on the door before pushing it open. “Mr. Queen? A Mr. Wayne is here to see you. I don’t see anything scheduled for this afternoon, but didn’t know if you had any plans.”

“No, Kari. If you haven’t added anything recently, my schedule is open. I’ll assume that there isn’t any paperwork that needs my attention this afternoon?”

“No, sir.”

“Then go ahead and show Mr. Wayne in. You might see if he would like anything to drink?”

“Actually, I was hoping to entice you out of the office for some lunch, Oliver.” Wayne had silently slipped up behind Kari at the door, and his sudden declaration caused her to jump. Wayne put a hand on her hip to steady her, but could tell that it had the opposite effect. The nearly musical sound of his voice didn’t help steady her nerves much either.

“Of, … of course. Mr. Wayne. Thank you.” She hurriedly turned around and walked back to her desk. When she got there, she realized that she had no idea why she had just thanked the billionaire. Again, she wasn’t sure she really cared.

“You need to quit startling my assistants, Bruce,” Oliver chided the other man, with a rough chuckle.

Looking to see that the door had closed again, Bruce told the other man in a low voice, “I see that you got yourself another beautiful assistant.”

Oliver shook his head, chuckling quietly. “I only hire the most qualified assistants. If they are beautiful, it is strictly a coincidence.”

Bruce lifted an eyebrow. “Are you telling me that Kari is as overqualified to be an EA as Felicity Smoak was?”

Oliver paused and decided not to fall for the bait. “I won’t even dignify that with a response. I will say that Kari does an incredible job keeping me on task here in the office. That’s all I need.”

Bruce debated whether he wanted to pursue this line of thinking further, but decided not to. Oliver had always been sensitive about Felicity, and Bruce didn’t feel like yanking his chain today. He had far more important things to discuss. Instead he asked, “So where can we get a good lunch and talk somewhere private.”

“Do we have business matters to discuss that are sensitive enough we need to leave the office?”

“Oh, I’m not here to discuss business, Oliver. I’ve already taken care of the various business items I had to attend to this morning. No, I have some personal business that I would like to discuss with you.”

That piqued Oliver’s interest, but he felt a small undercurrent of caution as well. Oliver had known Bruce a long time; their relationship went back to their playboy days, although Bruce had never taken his antics to the extreme that Oliver had. Still, Bruce Wayne didn’t just fly cross country to discuss personal business. Well, until now, that is.

Oliver decided to play along with what Bruce wanted, since he couldn’t come up with any scenario that would get out of hand. “What do you think about grabbing some Thai food and eating in the park? There’s a great place a couple blocks over and we can just walk to the park from there.”

“Excellent idea. I kind of get tired of business lunches.”

“Yeah, me too.”

Oliver grabbed his jacket from the coat tree along the back wall of the office and the keys from his desk and headed to the door alongside Wayne. When he reached the outer office, he glanced over at Kari, who was looking at the two men with an almost dazed look in her eye. Oliver asked her to have John Diggle meet them in the lobby of the building. He then added that he wasn’t sure when they would be back, to which Kari just nodded her acknowledgement.

The two CEOs rode the elevator down in relative silence. As they approached the lobby, Bruce finally asked, “I assume that Mr. Diggle is trustworthy?”

“You have no idea,” Oliver said. “John has been my bodyguard and assistant since I first came back to Starling City. I trust him with my life.”

“I figured as much, but I wasn’t kidding when I said that what I have to discuss is a very private matter.”

Oliver raised an eyebrow at that, but decided not to comment directly.

“I asked him to come along because he can make sure we have some privacy even while we’re in the park.” Bruce nodded in acknowledgement.

At that moment the elevator doors opened and Bruce and Oliver stepped out. John Diggle was standing opposite the elevator about ten steps back. A tall, dark man, Diggle presented an imposing figure. He was standing at ease facing the elevators; his pose easily belying his military background. He was slightly taller than Bruce, and his chest and arms clearly indicated that he knew how to take care of himself and anyone who might be under his protection. Bruce also realized that he had seen and met the bodyguard before.

“Mr. Diggle, it is good to see you again,” Wayne said in greeting while extending his hand.

“It’s nice to see you again as well, Mr. Wayne,” the bodyguard replied warmly. Diggle shook the other man’s hand briefly.

Oliver quickly explained the lunch plans to Diggle and the three men exited through the front doors of Queen Consolidated. The three men turned to the left and walked the couple of blocks to the Thai Palace. They grabbed their meals and ten minutes later found them sitting on a picnic table in a partially secluded part of Starling Center Park. All three men had removed their jackets and were relaxing in the nearly perfect weather.

The two younger men coerced Diggle into sharing some of his service stories, while Bruce and even Oliver shared some stories from their various travels. When all three had finished eating, Oliver asked Diggle to provide them with some privacy. The older man nodded his agreement and got up, disposing of their trash in a nearby trashcan, and starting a circuit around the general area. Oliver was pretty sure that they hadn’t attracted any paparazzi or other interested parties, but he always felt better when Diggle was around to provide the extra insurance.

“So. What private business did you want to discuss, Bruce?” Oliver asked.

Bruce stared intently at Oliver for a couple of minutes before starting. “I guess I’ll just come right to the point, Oliver. I know your secret.”

Oliver’s eyes narrowed, but he found it hard to believe that Bruce was talking about his alter ego. He had lots of secrets, many of which really didn’t matter at this point in his life. Surely, he had somehow stumbled on one of those and thought it important enough to discuss with Oliver. Bruce couldn’t really know that he was the Arrow, could he?

Bruce looked around the area to make sure that there was no one within listening distance, and then returned his gaze to Oliver. “I know that you are the Starling City vigilante.”

Oliver kept his facial expression completely neutral for a few seconds, before grinning. “Well, it’s been quite a while since I was accused of that. You apparently haven’t been keeping up on my mentions in the news, legitimate or otherwise. I was long ago dismissed as a viable candidate for being the Arrow. That’s what he likes to be called now, by the way. Besides, I’m a respectable businessman. I don’t have time to go around shooting bad guys with arrows.”

Bruce grinned. “Oliver, I’m well aware that you have been able to cover your tracks really well. But that simply means that you been able to build a wall of associates around you that help cover your activities. I’m absolutely sure that Mr. Diggle is one of those associates. Captain Lance of the Starling City Police Department seems like another good candidate. It must have taken some effort to win him over, I imagine.”

Oliver dropped the volume of his voice some before replying, “Bruce, why in the world would you think that I am the vigilante? Other than just to annoy me, I suppose. I seem to remember that you like to do that at times.”

“You’re right, at times I do. But not this time. Oliver. I’m a detective. I did a lot of research and once I compiled enough information, I realized how well you’ve developed your cover story. Ultimately, though, it was the evidence that convinced me. That and the fact that you and I are a lot alike. Far more than you know.”

Bruce paused, apparently considering what he wanted to say next. Oliver was getting ready to point out that he didn’t think they were as alike as maybe they used to be, but Bruce started up again.

“I have the same nighttime hobby you do. I’m Gotham’s protector.”

Oliver stared at the other man for what seemed like a long time. He wasn’t sure what to think now. Bruce had just dropped a major bomb in his lap.

He was finally able to just say it: “You’re the Batman? The Batman. That’s what they call Gotham’s vigilante, isn’t?”

“Yes, it is. And yes, I am,” Bruce replied. There was absolutely no emotion on Bruce’s face as he confirmed Oliver’s statements.

“I’m not saying you’re right about me, but why are you coming to me with this, Bruce? What possible reason could you have for revealing your secret? Assuming you’re telling the truth. What’s your game here?”

“I’m going to need your help with something. Something big. Something that is beyond even our collective skills. You and I are a lot alike as I said. I figured the best place to start gathering allies was with you.” Wayne paused again, and then continued, “there’s a lot more to this than what I’ve said, but we need to move someplace far more private before we get into the details.”

Wayne looked at Oliver Queen’s face and could see that the other man still didn’t believe him.

With a slight grimace on his face, he said, “Fine, you want some kind of proof, don’t you?”

With that, he waved his right hand down to his side, then brought it back up quickly. Nestled in between his fingers were three thin black objects, but Oliver couldn’t make out exactly what they were. Wayne brought his hand back and flicked it in the general direction of a tree twenty feet or so to his right. Oliver heard a slight hissing sound as the objects sliced through the air and then three soft thunks as they buried themselves in a triangle in the tree.

Wayne tilted his head in a silent invitation to go inspect them. Oliver stood, and with a glance back at the dark-haired man, walked over to the tree. He grabbed the first object and after tugging on it, pulled a black bat-shaped dart from the tree. He quickly pulled the other two matching darts from the tree, and, carefully avoiding the sharp ends, palmed them before walking back to the picnic table.

“You realize that this isn’t even remotely conclusive, right?” Oliver challenged the other man.

“Fine,” Bruce huffed slightly. “How about this. I understand that the Arrow is quite the hand-to-hand fighter. Why don’t we go back to your hideout and go a few rounds. I assume you do have some sort of base of operations.” Bruce’s face again wore his small smile, but Oliver detected a serious undertone to his suggestion.

Oliver’s pause was long enough that Bruce was sure that he was just going to walk away, but finally Oliver agreed to the suggestion, with a simple “Okay.” Oliver wasn’t really sure why he decided that Bruce was on the up and up with this, but no other reasoning made sense.

Sure he and Bruce had often been linked in the tabloids. Rich playboy idiots who were constantly trying to outdo each other. Oliver realized that he had probably won that battle, and while Tommy had often been there to aid and abet his idiocy, he had never really needed the help. Bruce’s exploits, while often involving alcohol and beautiful women, had often fell far short of Oliver’s standards when it came to doing really stupid stuff. Pre-island Oliver had really excelled at the stupid stuff.

But now he and Bruce had both built powerful and stable companies through their own hard work. There was simply no reason for Bruce to show up and claim to be a vigilante and simultaneously accuse Oliver of being the Arrow, unless the joint sharing of their secret identities had some purpose. Oliver couldn’t begin to fathom what that purpose could be, though. Surely Bruce didn’t want to team-up like Barry sometimes did. That didn’t seem to be either Bruce or his alter ego’s style.

All of this flashed through Oliver’s thoughts in mere seconds. He shook his head to clear the useless musing, grabbed his phone and texted Diggle. After a couple of minutes, the bodyguard circled back into Bruce and Oliver’s view.

“Digg, Bruce and I have some further business to attend to. We’re going to walk back to the QC building and then head out from there.”

“Do you need me to drive?” Diggle asked, suspecting that Oliver didn’t need him this time.

“No, we’ll take my car from the garage.” He turned to look at the other CEO. “Did you leave something in the office?”

“Yes, I had a duffle bag with me. I’ll want that.”

Oliver selected Kari’s contact from his phone and called the office. The phone rang once and then he heard his assistant’s rather soft voice.

“Yes, Oliver.”

“Kari, Mr. Wayne and I are headed back to the office. I believe Mr. Wayne left a duffle bag just inside my office. Would you have that run down to the garage? We’re going to head directly to my car.”

“Yes, sir. Is there anything that you need from the office?”

“No, I don’t think so. I can always run by later, if I remember something, but I think I’ll be okay.”

The conversation was much quieter on the way back. Diggle noticed that both men seemed to be focused on their own thoughts, so he stayed quiet. He also remained vigilant to his surroundings. Oliver didn’t quite draw attention like he used to, even with his renewed standing in the community, but he didn’t know if the two billionaires together might be a prize too tempting for a random paparazzi to ignore.

But his concerns were apparently groundless, as the three made their way quickly back to the QC building without incident. They entered the lobby and headed straight for the elevators, with Diggle pressing the Down call button. Immediately one of the car doors opened and the three men entered the elevator. Diggle again pressed the appropriate button to take them to the private level of the garage and the doors closed in front of them. Less than a minute later, the doors slid open again and Diggle lead the way out of the elevator and to the right.

As CEO, Oliver had multiple slots available in the garage. He kept his silver Mercedes parked in the garage for those occasions when he would need a car, but hadn’t driven to work. Diggle had called ahead and had the car readied for his boss. Kari stood in front of the passenger side door, holding Wayne’s duffle with both hands.

As the men approached the car, Oliver automatically circled to the driver’s side while Bruce approached the pretty assistant.

“Thank you, very much, Miss Dunlop. And may I say that it was very nice meeting you. I hope that I will get to see you again,” Bruce smoothly complimented the girl.

Oliver rolled his eyes at Bruce’s flattery. He was sure that Bruce probably was far smoother than he had ever been. And Bruce was probably more sincere, even though Oliver was trying to be more honest in his dealings with people.

John Diggle had followed Oliver to his side of the car. Oliver looked at him briefly. “I’ll give you a call a little later and let you know what’s going on. If you don’t mind, bring Felicity with you when you come to the Foundry.”

Diggle nodded his agreement, and cocked one eyebrow up high in a single question.

“Not entirely sure yet,” was Oliver’s response.

>>>>>\------->

As Oliver pulled the sports car out of the garage, Bruce decided to pick up his case again.

“Am I right that Mr. Diggle is one of your associates?”

Oliver decided at that moment that he would quit denying being the Arrow to Bruce. It wasn’t getting him anywhere, so it wasn’t worth keeping up the denials. Besides, he had already committed himself to taking Wayne to the Foundry. Twenty minutes wouldn’t make a difference as far as confirming Wayne’s suspicions.

“Yes. He was actually the first to join my …” Oliver searched for the right word to describe what he was doing. He finally settled on “crusade.” That’s what Felicity liked to call it, when she was being fanciful. “He got shot protecting me, and I had to let him in on things in order to save his life.”

“I take it he isn’t the second archer?”

“No, Diggle isn’t Arsenal. Arsenal is a longer, more complicated story. It took a long time before he actually became part of the team. He’s come a long way, though, and has become very useful.”

“Arsenal, huh?”

“The code names help when we’re in the field. I have been told that even though our radio communication is heavily protected, there’s no way to ensure that it is always completely secure.”

“Yeah, I found the same to be true with my associates. I’ve had to change our methods a couple of time in response to changing technology,” Wayne provided.

The two men drove in silence for a couple of minutes until Wayne laughed. “Ha. Now it makes sense.”

“What’s that,” Oliver asked, almost afraid of the answer.

“Smoak. She’s your tech support. That’s why you had the most talented IT professional in all of Starling City working as your EA. It enabled her to be in more or less constant communication with you. She was just outside your office after all.”

Then he frowned. “Kari doesn’t strike me as being able to provide the same kind of support.”

“She doesn’t,” Oliver acknowledged, again surprised at how willing he was to confirm Bruce’s suspicions all of a sudden. “She is just my EA. She’s good as a secretary, very good actually, but she knows nothing about my extracurricular activities. She does think I’m pretty eccentric, though.” He admitted the last part with a laugh. Kari had been very pointed in her objections to some of his ill-timed comings and goings.

“So Smoak is still your tech support?” Bruce asked.

“Yes, my partner.” Then, realizing the potential implications of that statement, he added, “just like Diggle is.”

Oliver wasn’t sure why he had qualified that. He and Felicity were together; he liked them being together and quite frankly their full relationship had proven to be the opposite of what he had always feared. He felt like he could protect her better now than he ever had before. They didn’t necessarily advertise their relationship just because they were both working at QC again. But they didn’t go out of their way to hide it either. So his deflection of that particular fact was a little surprising to him, given everything else he had just admitted.

Bruce nodded.

At this point, Oliver reached the rear entrance to Verdant. He pulled into the spot furthest away from the converted dock and parked the Mercedes. He and Bruce exited the car and started walking towards the short staircase that ascended to the dock proper. Oliver could feel Bruce’s eyes on him the whole time.

“Your base of operations is a bar? Please don’t tell me that I have misjudged you? This would be really clichéd.

Oliver chuckled. “My family still owned the foundry buildings and land, even though my father had closed the factory a while before we sailed for China. When I came back and started… I knew I needed to operate out of somewhere in the city, and I pretty quickly remembered this place. Verdant came later, when I decided I needed to do something with myself and my time. I originally had no intention of working at Queen Consolidated.”

Oliver knew his explanation was kind of fractured and incomplete, but he figured Bruce would ask about any of the gaps if he wanted to know. He again marveled at how comfortable he felt telling Bruce about all the various aspects of his life. If Bruce really was the Batman, then they really were a lot alike.

Oliver could see Bruce nod in understanding. “I played at being CEO for several years myself. I finally gained enough maturity to see that I needed to devote myself to it as much as I did my other endeavors,” Bruce said. There was a pause before he added, “it is a tough balancing act.”

Their short exchange had brought them to the secured door that sat off to the side of the dock. It looked unused, but Oliver pressed a button to the side of the keypad. The keypad lit up and Oliver proceeded to punch in a long combination. When he finished the door locks popped and Oliver grasped the handle and pulled the door open. He waved Bruce to enter ahead of him.

When both men had moved through the portal, Oliver pulled the door closed. There was soft illumination on the modest size landing they found themselves on. Bruce noticed that a set of solid steps led downward into the darkness to his left. The stairs still had soft lighting above them making it easy to see where he was going, but the lights didn’t cast much light on the surrounding area. Bruce could see that the basement stretched for a considerable distance in three directions.

When the two men reached the bottom of the stairs, Oliver stepped to the side of Bruce and grasped the handle on the electrical panel situated behind the stairs. He pulled it down, and several banks of fluorescent lights powered up. Bruce could see a series of metal tables and desk surfaces stretched out in front of him. He also saw that there was several glass cases arranged to the sides of the various work areas. Turning he noticed that stretching in the other direction was a variety of workout equipment. He walked further into the room, examining all of it.

“This is impressive, Oliver,” Bruce finally offered. “But no trophies? The Batcave has a lot of trophies.”

Oliver had followed the other man into the room and now stood a couple of feet from him. He looked at Wayne in total confusion for a minute, thinking about what the other man had just said. “Quite frankly, Bruce, I’m not sure I want any reminders of most of the guys I’ve taken down.”

“Yeah, I get that. I don’t keep stuff like I used to. I was a lot less jaded when I started than I am now. I guess I would rather forget what a homicidal maniac the Joker is at this point.”

Oliver’s considered Bruce’s statement about being less jaded when he was younger. For Oliver, his crusade seemed to be just the opposite. He was far less jaded now than he had been when he started. Of course, when he had returned to Starling City, he had a huge list of people who had failed his city. He figured that he would wipe out as many of them as he could before he eventually met his own end. And that was before he discovered what the Undertaking was all about. That was before Slade Wilson tried to exact his vengeance on Oliver on all of Starling City. That was before the League of Assassins decided that all of Starling City would have to pay for the sins of one evil man. Still, with the help of his friends and with his guiding light beside him, he had survived all of it. Even death.

“Wait a minute. Did you say ‘Batcave’?” Oliver asked incredulously.

Bruce laughed. “Yeah. It’s a cave and there are bats. Lots of bats. That’s why the bat motif. My first mission out into Gotham was a glorious failure. I got shot and barely made it home. Part of it was because I was dressed like every other criminal in the city. I wasn’t seen as a threat, even though I was determined to work off intimidation as much as anything. Anyway, I’m sitting in the study of the mansion, seriously thinking that I was going to die and the biggest bat I have ever seen flew through a window and crashed at my feet. Scared the piss out of me.”

“We’re quite the pair, aren’t we?” Oliver laughed.

Bruce just nodded. “Why don’t I kick your ass now?”

Oliver laughed again. He couldn’t help be reminded of the last time someone had told him that.

Ten minutes later, Oliver was dressed in a pair of his workout pants and boots, while Bruce was standing opposite him in a similar outfit. Oliver had briefly seen the Batman uniform when Bruce was unpacking the duffle. The cape and cowl were still draped over the bag over on the med table where Bruce had left it.

When Bruce had returned to the workout area after changing his clothes, he had taken a good look at Oliver’s shirtless upper body.

“Damn, Queen. What the hell did you get involved in while you were on that island?”

Oliver shrugged. “It was five years of hell. Lian Yu, Hong Kong, the island again, then Russia. There was none of it that was any good. I had barely had time to bury my dad on the island and I had already been shot with an arrow. It went straight to hell from there on,” Oliver explained, then he shrugged. “Of course, a fair amount of these I’ve gotten since I returned to Starling.”

Oliver pointed to the spot in the middle of his Bratva tattoo where he had driven the arrow through his own body to kill Malcolm Merlyn.

“This one was self-imposed.”

Bruce just nodded. Oliver could see that Bruce’s torso, while not as heavily scarred as his own, had it fair share of marks. The visible cost of what they do, Oliver realized.

"I don’t know about you, but it’s much harder to keep up the playboy role, when you know how most women are going to react to …” Bruce swept his hand around his own chest. “This.”

Oliver ducked his head in agreement. “Let’s go, Wayne.”

The two men circled each other warily for a couple of minutes, sizing each other up. Wayne finally launched his attack and both men’s focus narrowed immediately. For the next two hours, they tested each other, each one throwing all of their experience at each other. They moved through all the various fighting styles each had learned over the years, always searching for something with which to gain the upper hand. Bruce was fast and agile and obviously had an immense knowledge of many forms of hand to hand combat. Oliver, on the other hand, was strong and unpredictable. Where Oliver often felt like he was a half-step behind Bruce’s attacks, Bruce was constantly surprised by Oliver’s ability to resist an attack that would quickly take most other opponents. And then, he would be blindsided by Oliver’s counterattack.

Finally after more than two hours of give and take, Oliver had pulled a surprisingly quick move that had tossed Bruce to the mat yet again. Unfortunately, his own boot had caught a slick of perspiration from a previous fall. He tumbled backward and landed on his own back a few feet opposite his sweaty opponent. The two looked at each other and just laughed.

“I needed that,” Bruce admitted. “I haven’t been challenged quite that much in a long while.”

At that moment, both men heard the beep that signaled someone else was entering the Foundry.

Oliver quickly looked at Bruce and asked, “Are you okay with my people knowing who you are?”

Bruce nodded. “Yeah, I kind of figured that it would be necessary. We still haven’t talked about why I’m really here, and I think they should be aware of it as well.”

So the two men remained sprawled on the exercise mat as the door opened and first Felicity Smoak and then John Diggle entered the door. Felicity was surprised to see that the lights were on in the Foundry, even before she started descending the stairs.

“Digg?” she asked the bodyguard, her voice soft and low, before turning and trying to see who might be below.

“Oliver, are you here?” Digg’s voice quickly sounded in an attempt to confirm Oliver’s presence.

“Yeah, on the mats,” Oliver quickly responded.

Felicity bounded down the stairs as quickly as she could, given her heels. She turned around the cabinet that blocked the exercise area from being seen from the stairwell and drew up. The sight before her resulted in a minor miracle. Felicity Smoak was struck mute for almost a minute.

Finally, she managed to squeak out, “Oliver?” The one word carried volumes of questions in it though, coupled with the parade of expressions that crossed the blonde’s face.

Oliver’s answer was equally brief. “Felicity.”

Bruce watched Felicity and saw the range of emotions and questions that flitted across her face. At first, there was a clear “what are you doing?” followed by “why is there someone else sitting next to you?” When Oliver didn’t respond to that, at least not verbally, her face then took on a distinct “you’ve gone crazy, haven’t you?” look. The non-verbal last question was followed by Felicity’s head tilting to the right in much the same way she had reacted to Oliver’s ‘coffee shop in a rough neighborhood’ story all those years ago.

Oliver may not have responded verbally to his partner, but his face was just as expressive as he tried to assure her that he did know what he was doing and that no, he wasn’t crazy. When she tilted her head, he had to smile. He didn’t get that reaction from her very often these days, but he simply was unable not to be affected by it when he did get it. He had realized long ago that the first time she had done that had marked an important turning point in his life.

Wayne had watched the entire exchange between the two with quite some amusement. He looked over to see Diggle watching the exchange between the two much the same reaction. On impulse, he addressed the big man, “I don’t think I have ever seen two individuals carry on such a complicated conversation without say anything. Do they do this a lot, John?”

Seeing absolutely no reason not to tell the truth, Diggle replied, “Oh, you have no idea.”

And then it hit him. Wayne had noticed on his visits during Oliver’s previous tenure as CEO that Oliver was always protective, if not downright possessive, of his then Executive Assistant. Wayne had written it off to something going on between the two of them, and had purposely pressed as many buttons as he could to get a reaction. At the time, he figured that Oliver was still every bit the playboy he had been when he was younger and that Felicity was simply the newest object of his, probably fleeting, affection. Oliver had denied it, of course, but Wayne was sure he knew the difference between faking it and the real thing.

But now, it was obvious that there was so much more going on between Queen and the IT genius.

Bruce looked at Oliver. “When you said that she was your partner, you weren’t kidding were you? I mean, it is so obvious that she is your partner in every way possible.”

Oliver just sighed. Felicity, on the other hand, wasn’t quite ready to give in. And it was at that point she realized who exactly was sitting on the mat next to Oliver. Even as she tried to wrap her head around the fact that Bruce Wayne was sitting shirtless on the exercise mat next to Oliver in the Arrowcave, her mouth answered his accusation.

“Why would you possibly make that assumption, Mr. Wayne?” she huffed. “I’ll have you know that Mr. Queen and I have a completely professional relationship.” Her statement ended with a very convincing sound of indignation at Wayne’s assumption. Oliver was impressed. Felicity didn’t always pull off her indignation very well.

“Felicity, I am a far better judge of people than you probably take me for, and let me assure you, I have never seen two people who are more obviously a couple than the two of you. I didn’t see it when I met you a couple of years ago, but I’m guessing that your relationship was still developing. But now? If the two of you are still trying to hide it, I really don’t understand why you bother.”

Oliver decided he didn’t want this to go any further. “You’re right, Bruce. Felicity is my partner in every sense of the word. Since I returned to the helm of Queen Consolidated, however, we felt that it was still better to not make an issue out of it.”

“Well, you might as well stop bothering. I’m sure most people notice, even if they don’t have my observation skills. You would be better off announcing to the world that you are a couple and just let people deal with it.

“Although…” Bruce continued, “one of you should probably say something to Miss Dunlop. I don’t think she has figured it out yet. She still managed to stare at you more than me the entire time I was in your office. I was mildly offended.” Bruce finished his statement with a small chuckle, making it clear that his opinion of himself wasn’t nearly as inflated as the last statement made it sound.

Oliver just rolled his eyes. He was unfortunately aware of Kari’s crush on him, and he was already trying to do everything he could not to lead the girl on. He was apparently correct in his belief that it wasn’t working well enough. When he looked back at Felicity, she was sending him a look that clearly said that he needed to take care of this problem quickly.

Felicity’s mind finally returned to the question uppermost on her mind. “Oliver. Why is Bruce Wayne sitting shirtless in the middle of the Foundry? And have the two of you been fighting?”

“It seems that besides being billionaire playboys, Bruce and I have something else in common: he likes to go out and beat up criminals at night as well. Bruce is the Batman.”

Felicity’s eyes went very wide for a moment as she took this in.

“Is this really what happens when you have too much money?” While not as risqué as her usual babbles, Felicity still blushed at her unintentional spoken assumption.

“Actually, I think it stems from having something really horrible happen to you and then having enough money to do something about it,” Bruce said with a wide smirk on his face.

At Felicity’s surprised look, Bruce’s face got more serious. “My parents were gunned down in front of me when I was fairly young,” Bruce explained. “It made an impression, obviously. As I got older, I decided I would do my best to prevent that from happening to anyone else. My parents’ fortune allowed me to spend years getting myself ready.”

“Your scars?” Felicity asks quietly.

“Mostly from fighting the criminals of Gotham. A few of them from the years before, but not like Oliver’s. The time I spent at Nanda Parbat pretty much started the collection.”

Felicity’s face morphed into the hardest expression Oliver had ever seen on her. Bruce noticed it, too.

“I know a little of what Ra’s has put you all through. I trained with him for about a year, but he eventually threw me out, when he realized I would not kill. My guess is that I got lucky because his daughter liked me.”

“Nyssa?” The question had come from Oliver, who had a questioning look on his face.

“No, Talia,” Bruce said after a brief pause. “Talia is his older daughter. She doesn’t always agree with her father’s ideas as much as Nyssa. Their relationship is a lot more rocky, but Ra’s figures that Talia will be the one to give him a male heir.” Bruce paused, but it was clear he was thinking of what else he should say. “It’s very possible that you wouldn’t have seen her at Nanda Parbat. She tends to travel a lot.”

Oliver nodded. “No, I don’t think she was there during my brief visit. I do remember Nyssa mentioning her one time though. I take it the notion of a proper heir is a point of dissention?”

“Yeah. Nyssa was still fairly young when I was there, but Talia has hinted that the rift between the two of them has grown more since Nyssa has come into her own as an agent of her father.”

Oliver wanted to ask more about Bruce’s relationship with Talia, but realized that their discussion had already deviated further than it should have.

“Bruce? What was it that you really wanted to talk about?” Oliver asked, hoping to get back to the topic at hand.

Bruce was again thoughtful, obviously trying to decide where to start. “Much like you, I prefer to confine my activities to my city. I’ve had to occasionally chase something beyond Gotham, but usually I figure there’s more than enough local threats that I need to just stay there. And like you, I prefer working with a small group of individuals that I know and that are willing to work with me.”

Felicity snorted.

Oliver looked at her for a second and then smirked.

Bruce looked at her and frowned ever so slightly. He then looked at Oliver.

For perhaps the first time since he had known Felicity, Oliver found himself interpreting her for someone else. It was usually the other way around.

“When I was gone, my team realized that they no longer protected Starling City because they were helping with MY crusade. It had become their crusade as well. You sound a little like I did, before my brief demise.”

Bruce nodded his head in understanding. “I meant no disrespect for either your efforts or those of the people I work with. Please understand that, like Oliver, my reasons for doing what I do are deeply personal. The events of my childhood fundamentally changed who I am and regardless of everyone and everything that has happened since, I would pursue stopping that from happening to anyone else for as long as I can. I don’t know about Oliver, but I suspect that he feels the same way.”

Bruce’s tone of voice was soft, but the underlying steel to his words was unmistakable. Oliver thought about that point of view and realized that while he had certainly changed over the last couple of years, especially as the depth of his relationship with Felicity had grown, there was still an undercurrent of truth to what Bruce was saying. He looked at Felicity and was surprised by what he saw there. It was recognition of the truth behind what Bruce was saying. It was recognition that her reason for what they did was not the same as Bruce’s or Oliver’s. It was recognition that while she chose to do what she did, neither of them felt they had a choice; they were compelled to do what they did.

“Anyway,” Bruce’s voice broke both of them out of their internal reflections. “I have discovered that there may be threats that go beyond Gotham or Starling and that I want to be prepared to face those threats. Unfortunately, it means that I’ll need help.”

“There are more and more of us, Oliver. Some of them have special abilities, and while I certainly don’t plan on immediately trusting anyone, I think it is worth the chance to find these other individuals, these heroes, and recruit them to the cause.”

“Who are you talking about?”

“A couple of them, I believe you already know. The fast one in Central City: the Flash. The one in the armor. What does he call himself?”

“A.T.O.M.,” Felicity said, her voice soft.

Bruce nodded. “Then there’s the one that flies in Metropolis. Superman. There’s the guy with the ring. There’s some others that I’m still trying to find out about.”

“You’re kind of talking apples and oranges here, Bruce. I’ve worked a little with Ba… the Flash, and while I certainly can hold my own, realistically his skill sets are completely different. And, if you start talking about guys who fly or whatever the ring guy does, it makes my skills look a little weak, don’t you think? Heck, unless there’s something you’re not telling me, you and I are just human. We don’t have the kind of skills that matter when compared to these guys.”

“That’s where you’re wrong, Oliver,” Bruce said with complete conviction. “First of all, I think both of us have been doing this far longer than the rest, although I’m not sure about Superman. We have the experience that the others don’t. Furthermore, we make up for our lack of ‘powers’ by being better in other ways. I’m guessing that when you and the Flash worked together, you were the brains.”

“He’s right, Oliver,” Diggle chipped in for the first time in the conversation. “You had to almost force the Flash to think more. Even now, when the two of you work together, he tends to let you lead.”

“Oliver, I’ve been studying you and your team. You are coordinated. Efficient. You use your skill set to its best advantage. Heck, that’s why Diggle’s here. Why Felicity’s here. You use them to supplement your skills. I want you as the leader and as the strategist.”

“What about you. I would think you’d be a better choice at leading than I am.” Oliver’s opinion was honest. He was pretty sure that Bruce was far more analytical than he was.

“No, I don’t really have the temperament to lead. I suspect you’ve learned the hard way to do that. And I’m guessing that we’re equal when comes to strategizing, especially in the field. I’m more analytical, but don’t work off my gut like you do.”

Oliver still wasn’t convinced, despite what was a very frank assessment on Bruce’s part. He looked over at Felicity and was surprised to see that she obviously agreed with Bruce’s assessment.

“There’s something else. You’re probably not going to like it, but I think in the long run, it makes you the better leader.”

Bruce looked hard at Oliver, pausing to make sure that Oliver let his next words sink in.

“You can make the hard calls. I fear that the kind of threats that we would face as a group will eventually require someone to make the really difficult decisions, the kind that come from being in a war. The kind where the other guy is bent on killing you and the only response is to kill first.”

Oliver’s face hardened at that.

“That’s not how I do things, Bruce. Not now, anyway.” The last part was said with a heavy dose of resignation. Oliver really didn’t want to consider the things that he had done when he started or the things he had done while working for A.R.G.U.S. He hated that Oliver; he hated that Oliver more than he hated pre-island Oliver.

“I know that Oliver. I know that you do anything you can to avoid it. But the fact remains that if you absolutely had to, you could make that call.” Bruce’s expression was almost pained.

“Oliver, we’re a lot alike. But there are differences. Your crusade shows how far you’ve moved away from the darkness that started it. But those lessons you’ve learned along the way are valuable. Between your partners and those lessons, you’ve learned how to get better. How to make people pay without just ending them.

“My path, quite frankly, seems to veer more and more into insanity and darkness. When I started, I kept souvenirs. They were trophies of the fact that I had beaten some crazy criminal. But my crazies keep coming back. I’m convinced that the Joker has a revolving door on his cell at Arkham because it seems I am constantly tracking him down. And every time he gets free, there is more and more death. More and more chaos. Realistically, he should have been put to death years ago; or at least allowed to die. It wouldn’t have been hard; half the time, he falls victim to his own stupid plans. But I can’t do it. Because I know that once I accept that solution as an option, it will become the only option.

“Do you realize that more than half the criminals I stop get automatically sent to Arkham Asylum. Most of them have a room waiting for them to return to. I may not have had to deal with a manmade earthquake or a siege of the city, but that’s because nobody’s thought of it yet.

“Oliver, I trust you to know that one moment when there is no other solution. You may not be the one who pulls the trigger, but you are the only one I trust to make the decision. And I know that that is an ugly weight to put on you, but I know that you are the one who can handle it.”

“Damnit, Bruce. That’s asking an awful lot.”

“Yes, I know. I’m sorry. I hope that it never comes to that, but we have to be prepared for every eventuality.”

“I’m going to need to think about this.”

“Yeah, I understand that. Look, I may send someone else to give you a different perspective, if that’s okay?”

Oliver shrugged his shoulders, wondering how someone else was going to make this better.

“I’d also like to talk to the Flash, if possible.”

That pulled Oliver out of his rather dark train of thought for a moment. “You haven’t figured out who he is?”

“No. I probably could, with time, but that whole debacle that went down in Central City makes it a lot harder to determine out of all those affected who is who. Looks like most of them went bad, but not all. I’d rather take the easy route, believe it or not.”

“So who else do you want me to talk to?” Oliver asks, curiosity getting the better of him.

“I’d rather leave that to be a surprise.”


	2. The Reporter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver receives the visitor that Bruce Wayne indicated he would send Oliver's way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the second chapter of my Conversations series. I actually finished this so I could post it, as it was the unfinished piece. This and the third chapter basically go together so I am posting both at the same time.

It was the soft cough that first drew Kari Dunlop’s attention to the man standing in front of her desk. She snapped her head up from where she was focused on her PC’s screens to see a big man standing a couple of feet before her. As she scanned up, she saw that he was casually dressed: deep blue jeans, white, open-collared button-up shirt and brown tweed jacket. He looked to be in good shape, but despite his size wasn’t particularly imposing. When she got to his face, she saw that he was handsome: clean-shaven and square-jawed with a head full of wavy dark hair. The dark rimmed glasses didn’t hide the intelligent brown eyes which currently focused on her.

Kari tried to pull in her surprise at the man’s sudden appearance. “How can I help you, sir?”

“I didn’t mean to startle you, Miss Dunlap. I’m Clark Kent and I would like to speak with Mr. Queen, if at all possible.”

“Of course. Let me just check his schedule.” She looked back to the right-side monitor where Oliver Queen’s schedule was almost always displayed. She noted that his schedule was open the entire afternoon. She looked back up to Kent.

“It looks like he should be free.” She stood from her chair, unconsciously smoothing her skirt. “Let me make sure that he doesn’t have anything going on that he hasn’t told me about.”

She quickly walked over to the glass door that separated her outer office from Queen’s office, her heels click-clacking against the polished marble floor. She pushed open the door and entered the office, letting the door fall closed behind her. Oliver Queen sat at his desk jacketless, sleeves rolled up to his elbows and his tie loosened where it hung around his neck.

“Oliver. There is a Mr. Kent here that would like to speak with you.”

Oliver looked up from the document he was currently reading. He took in Kari standing a couple of feet inside the office and Mr. Kent who was still standing in front of her desk, obviously trying not to stare in the office. Oliver quickly sized up the man, noticing that he was broad-shouldered and tall, at least as tall as himself. Otherwise, he wasn’t particularly impressive looking, and based on his attire, Oliver assumed that he wasn’t there as part of a business call.

“What did he say his name was?”

“Kent, Clark Kent. He asked to speak with you, but didn’t give me any specifics. I’m sorry. I can find out what he wants, if you’d like.”

Oliver quirked an eyebrow at his assistant. She was normally more thorough, so something about the man had surprised her enough to throw her off her game.

“Wait a minute?” Oliver asked her suddenly. “Clark Kent, as in the Metropolis reporter, Clark Kent?”

“I’m really sorry, sir. Let me go find out.” She turned to go back out to the outer office, but Oliver quickly followed her, closing in on her almost before she got the door open.

“It’s okay, Kari. I’ll speak with him.”

Oliver grabbed the door from her as she opened it and followed her through the opening.

“Mr. Kent. The reporter, I assume?”

Kent nodded his head once in acknowledgement, but then qualified his purpose. “I’m not really here in an official capacity, Mr. Queen. This more of a fact-finding visit. Bruce Wayne suggested that I talk to you.”

That put Oliver a bit more on alert. Bruce’s visit the previous week had ended with the enigmatic suggestion that Oliver should talk to another ally of Bruce’s. A costumed, vigilante ally was the clear subtext to Bruce’s suggestion. Was Kent secretly a vigilante? Oliver looked at the man with a more critical eye.

“Do you have time?”

Oliver looked up a Kari. She shook her head. “You’re clear for the afternoon. I think Applied Sciences wants some feedback on that progress report, but you just got it, so there’s no immediate rush.”

Oliver looked back to Kent. “Let’s go ahead and go into my office.” Oliver turned back to the door and pulled it open, holding it for the reporter. Kent walked through into the inner office and moved halfway towards Oliver’s desk. Oliver followed him, moving around to his chair.

At this point, Oliver was trying to figure out to play this. Kent just didn’t seem like the kind of guy to be a vigilante. He had the build, perhaps. But he came across as ‘meek?’ Oliver thought. Besides, being a reporter made Kent a lot more visible than either Oliver or Bruce. Despite their celebrity, Oliver knew that it wasn’t that hard to keep his secret identity secret for the most part because most people just saw glimpses of him on the news or in the tabloids. The same was true of Bruce. But Kent? His name was out there constantly, and he even did some television, if Oliver remembered correctly. He wouldn’t have time to be a vigilante, would he?

Oliver shook his head to focus and looked to Kent before sitting down. “So why did Bruce Wayne point you in my direction?”

Kent looked back at Oliver for a long minute. “Did Bruce play cat and mouse with you regarding your … secret?”

“What?” Oliver straightened in his chair.

Kent obviously rethought his strategy and started again. “Mr. Queen, I’m here because Bruce has been trying to convince me that those of us with … gifts and talents … should band together. That there are threats that are going to be bigger than any one of us. And we need to be able to work together in order to stop those threats. I happened to agree with him. He said you were a little more skeptical.”

Oliver snorted. “I have never called what I do a gift. And my talents were more or less forced upon me. It was either learn them or die.”

“Of course. I just meant that we do what we do to make the world a better place.”

Oliver looked out the wall of windows that opened onto Starling City. His city. He still didn’t think of what he did as necessarily working to make the world, or even the city, a better place even though Felicity was constantly telling him that that was what he, no they, were doing. True, he was trying to save the city from those who wanted to make it their own, like his father and Malcolm Merlyn especially had tried to do. He still considered his actions to be atonement for all the bad he had done during his five years away and for his father’s actions.

Oliver turned back to the reporter. “Mr. Kent. I certainly hope that what I do makes Starling a better place. But I am just trying to make up for all of the bad things that I’ve done in the past.” Oliver’s voice had slipped to almost a whisper.

“Mr. Queen … Oliver … is there someplace we can go that’s a little more private? I assume that your glass walls are fairly soundproof, but your secretary can still see everything. I have a feeling that there are parts of the conversation we won’t want her to see as well as hear.”

Oliver quirked an eyebrow at that, considering for a minute, then nodded. “Of course, follow me.”

Oliver walked to the door, Kent falling in step with him. Pushing through he immediately turned to the door opening onto the elevator lobby. As he walked, over his shoulder he told Kari, “Mr. Kent and I will be back in a little while.” He finished with a wave in her direction.

He moved past the elevators and pushed through the door in the stairwell. He chose the stairs that went up. It was three short flights of stairs to the roof entrance, but both men climbed quickly and silently. Oliver unlocked the door at the top and opened it, letting in the midday sun. It was a nice day in Starling, nicer than most and the sun was shining in a nearly cloudless sky. Oliver had always loved days like today. He still did, hence choosing to go to the roof instead of finding a secluded conference room somewhere in the building. Oliver held the door while Kent walked past him, then shut the door and bolted it from the outside, thus ensuring their privacy.

The two men walked over to a patio-like area away from all of the utility fixtures.

“First of all, let’s make sure that we’re on the same page. No more cat and mouse, as you hinted below. Who did Bruce tell you I was?”

“You, Oliver Queen, are the Arrow, forged into a fighting machine by five years of hardship. To the public, you always said that you were stranded on an island in the North China Sea. But that is obviously not the whole truth. Something happened during those five years that turned you into a weapon of vengeance, even moreso than Bruce is, if I’m not mistaken.”

Oliver stared at the other man. “Bruce told you all of that?”

“Bruce told me that you were the Arrow. That he had presented his plan to you, but that you probably needed some additional persuasion. I deduced the rest. How I do?”

Oliver didn’t bother to answer that, other than a dismissive wave of his hand. Instead, he decided to find out what Kent’s stake in all of this was. “Bruce wasn’t quite as forthcoming where you were concerned, Kent. He didn’t even tell me it was you who would be visiting me. Am I correct in assuming that you have a similar nighttime … hobby … as Bruce and I do?”

“Hobby undersells it a bit. I have been given gifts. I want to use them to make the world a better place.”

“Gifts. That’s the term you used earlier. Other than my gift for languages, I don’t have gifts.” Suddenly, it hit Oliver. “Are you telling me that you’re a metahuman like the Flash, Kent?”

“Yes and no. I can do things that others can’t. But it’s not because I’m a meta.” He paused, and Oliver realized that Kent didn’t know how to explain himself. He could see the man thinking through what to say next. “I’m an alien, Oliver. I’m from the planet Krypton, and I was sent to Earth when my planet exploded. The press calls me Superman.”

Oliver had really been hoping that Kent was going to tell him anything but that he was Superman. He knew that he had seen some weird stuff during his five years away. His brief adventure with John Constantine was proof of that, but aliens were something else entirely.

“You want proof, I imagine?” Kent asked suddenly.

Oliver looked back up at the other man. He did want proof, and yet he didn’t. Getting proof that aliens existed would be adding to the growing catalog of things that were way beyond Oliver’s scope of experience. Before Oliver could answer, Kent started to levitate. Actually levitate. He soon was floating a couple of feet above the roof.

When Oliver looked up and met Kent’s gaze, Oliver forced himself to look unimpressed. He simply had no proper frame of reference for processing what Kent could do. How do you deal with someone having that wide a range of super-human abilities? Oliver had thought that Constantine’s magic was pushing the envelope.

“Is that it?” he said, still going for nonchalant.

Kent dropped back to the roof. “No. Aside from the flying, I am very fast, incredibly strong, and nearly impervious to being hurt. I have both heat vision and the ability to see through things.” He looked down at the roof for a few seconds. “Your assistant is currently talking to a bald headed man in a really rumpled shirt who,” he paused as if he were listening in on a conversation, “wants to know why you aren’t at your desk because he needs to explain some anomalies in the accounting system. He’s angry, but is sweating profusely and his heart rate is elevated the way most people’s are when lying. So I’ve got very precise hearing as well.”

Oliver waved him off. “That’s enough, I think.”

Clark just nodded, while Oliver started pacing back and forth. He was trying to focus on the real issue here. It wasn’t Clark Kent’s alien superpowers, Oliver realized. It’s that Bruce Wayne was aware of a problem big enough that Superman couldn’t handle it alone or suspected that that type of situation was possible. Wayne was gathering an army in order to deal with those situations. Oliver still didn’t see where he fit in.

He stopped pacing and turned to look at the reporter.

“Okay, Kent. Clark. Wayne was right, I guess. I needed to see you in action to believe that you are real. But here’s my question. How do I fit into all of this? Between you and Batman, I would think that there’s not much that the two of you couldn’t handle.”

Kent adjusted his glasses. “Just because I’ve got all these abilities doesn’t mean I can solve everything. I have my limits; there are there are things that I can’t do despite my powers. More importantly, there are things I won’t do.” He hesitated for a minute, again thinking through how to say what he wanted to say. “I grew up in a very good situation: good parents, nice midwest life and basically human. Once I started to develop my powers, I had to limit myself for years so that people didn’t consider me strange. I’m an alien, Oliver, and while the only thing I’ve ever known is life on this planet, I still can’t fit in completely.” Clark’s face was wistful all of a sudden and he looked away, seeming to take in the skyline of Starling City.

“I became a reporter so that I could get information quicker, but also because I thought that I could help people that way as well. Somedays I can and somedays I can’t. What I’m trying to say, Oliver, is that I am not all powerful. I have clear limitations. So does Bruce. Some of them we know, some we may not even be aware of. You have them too, but combined as a group we can maximize our skill sets; we can be more than the sum of our parts.”

Oliver decided it was time to take the conversation in another direction. “Bruce mentioned that he was tracking others. How many of these people have you met?”

“None of them. You’re the first. Bruce considered you to be the key.”

Oliver huffed at that. “I’m not sure I trust Bruce’s opinion all the time. Clark, I’m the most damaged of everyone he mentioned. My desire to do this doesn’t come from a good place, although I have people that help me with that.”

“That’s why you’re effective, Oliver. You understand all sides of the argument. Bruce point-blank told me that one of the reasons he wanted you with us is because you can make the hard calls. He and I are both realists enough to know that things may come to that. I’ve never had to make that call. Bruce has always chosen not to go that route, but I get the feeling that he questions that decision occasionally. But you, you’ve learned when killing is the only solution and you’ve learned to not go there unless there is no alternative. Am I right?”

“You still make it sound simple. It’s not.”

“That’s the answer to the question, Oliver. You know that it’s not.”

Oliver looked at him. He hated the implications of what Clark was saying, but the man wasn’t wrong.

“Oliver, Bruce and I need you to join with us.”

“Okay, let’s say I do. What’s next?”

“We figure out who to talk to next. I suggest the speedster in Central City. Bruce said you had worked with him before? And maybe the guy here in Starling with the suit. The Atom?” After that, there’s a woman who appears to have skills closer to mine and I’ve heard rumors of some kind of merman working off the east coast.”

Oliver shook his head. “I haven’t heard of the last two. I agree that we talk to the Flash; he’s already come a long way and his skills are impressive. The Atom I’m going to say no. He’s well-intentioned, but he’s new. I’ve worked with him a little, so I’ll talk to him, but I rather not put people who aren’t ready into the line of fire.”

Clark nodded his head in agreement. “Understood. But that’s another reason for us to work together: those of us who’ve been doing this for a while can help those who haven’t.”

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’ll contact the Flash. Set something up for next week. Will that work for you?”

Clark smiled. “Yeah, that works for me.”

Oliver turned towards the exit, then turned back. “For the record, Clark, I’m not 100% onboard with this. Introducing you to the Flash is a no brainer, though. We’ll see where it goes from there.”

Their business concluded, the two made their way back downstairs. Halfway down the stairs, Oliver asked Clark, “Do you aliens eat, Kent?”

Kent laughed. “Yeah, we do Queen. What’ve you got mind?”

“Well, if Felicity’s downstairs and hasn’t eaten yet, it will be Big Belly Burger.”

With that, the two men headed back down the stairs to Oliver’s office.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I started this story, I was looking forward to this chapter as much as I was the conversation between Bruce and Oliver. Not sure the final piece accomplished everything I wanted, but I'm not unhappy with it. I'll take that, given that the concept for all of this came about during the middle of Season 3.
> 
> As always, comments and feedback are appreciated.


	3. The Past and the Present

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While Oliver is talking to Clark Kent, Felicity comes clean with Oliver's EA.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I started watching Arrow with Season 3. I had watched all of S1 and started on S2 by the time S3 started. My favorite setting for Arrow has always been Season 2 (and I suspect the same is true for a lot of fans), so my early story ideas revolved around putting Oliver back into control of QC and moving on from there. Since even the end of S2 makes it very hard to put Oliver and Felicity back into that same relationship, I have played with the logical progression here. Hence you get more info and time frame details about the current situation for Oliver and Felicity.

Kari Dunlop looked up from her computer screen to the staccato sounds of high heels crossing the distance from the elevator to her desk. When she had heard the first three or four steps coming out of the elevator she knew who it was, but the visual confirmation always caused a little bit of a nervous reaction. She wasn’t sure just why, but it was there nonetheless.

The pretty blonde approaching her desk was dressed in a dark blue, knee length dress today with gold heels complimenting the dress. Felicity Smoak’s hair was pulled back in her trademark ponytail, her glasses perched halfway down her nose. She looked up at Kari as she reached the assistant’s desk.

“Kari, have you seen Oliver lately?” the petite woman coming up opposite her asked. “I’ve been calling him for the last hour and he hasn’t answered.”

It was at that point that Felicity looked to her right to see if Oliver Queen was actually sitting at his desk. He wasn’t. But she wouldn’t have put it past him to either be so engrossed in something that he just wasn’t paying attention to anything else, or to somehow be ticked about something and not want to talk to her. She immediately rejected the second option. They hadn’t actually fought about anything for quite some time, so there was no reason for him to be avoiding her.

“Well, that would explain why he hasn’t answered his desk phone for the last hour,” she said, waving her hand in the general direction of his empty desk. It appeared to Kari that despite the normal volume of her voice, Felicity was really just talking to herself. After a few seconds, she pulled her eyes back around to look squarely at Kari and asked again, “Any idea where our fearless leader might be?”

“No, ma’am. I haven’t seen him since…” the dark haired woman paused as she looked down at the clock off to the side of her desk, “…around 11:30 or so, I guess.”

“Oh.” The blonde sounded distinctly disappointed. “Any idea where he might have gone?”

Kari shook her head. “No. A man – actually a reporter, I think – showed up without any appointment. After a few minutes of discussion, Oliver, I mean Mr. Queen, agreed to go with him. I assumed that they were going to lunch, but Mr. Queen didn’t give me any indication of what he was doing at all. He usually tells me something about where he is going or how long he thinks he’ll be gone, but not this time. He just waved at me and they walked to the elevator.”

Kari took a big breath as she finished, not realizing how fast she had been speaking. She suddenly realized just how much she felt that she had been put on the spot by the woman in front of her, and not for the first time. Felicity Smoak tended to make her skittish..

And just like that, Kari decided she was going to find out why Felicity Smoak had this effect on her. Kari had worked for Oliver Queen for a year, basically ever since he had regained control of Queen Technologies from Ray Palmer. She knew that Felicity had been a senior member of Palmer’s management team. She also knew that Felicity had been Oliver Queen’s Executive Assistant the first time he was in charge of the company. And she had heard the rumors about the two of them during that time. Kari had been part of the secretarial pool back in those days, and she had been astonished when Mr. Queen had promoted Felicity to be his EA from the IT department instead of one of the girls from the pool. He hadn’t even conducted interviews for the job. Felicity had just got the job.

Kari wasn’t the only one of the girls that was more than a little upset at the missed opportunity.

All of this flashed through her mind in an instant. She didn’t take the time to really think about what she was going to say next; she just said it.

“Ms. Smoak, can I ask you something about Mr. Queen?”

Felicity had actually started to turn back to the elevators and was debating whether or not she wanted to track Oliver down. It was just a work issue she wanted to discuss with him, and not a critical one by any means. She was curious about a reporter showing up and the two of them disappearing, though. So Kari’s question didn’t fully register with her at first.

She did hear Kari ask her something though, and when it registered that the woman had asked a question, she turned around and asked, “I’m sorry, what was that?”

“I’d like to ask you something about Mr. Queen,” the executive assistant said.

“Oh – kay. What would you like to know?” Felicity was pretty sure that this was a conversation that she didn’t particularly want to have, and she didn’t even know what the other woman wanted to talk about. She just knew that the two of them had maintained a very polite, but distant relationship over the last year.

“How did you get to be Oliver’s EA? Back when you were his EA, I mean.”

Felicity inwardly sighed. That was something she could answer easily. “Well, it’s kind of an odd story, but not too odd. Before he actually came to work for the company, he had a developed a habit of coming to me with his computer problems. And believe me when I say that that man is not good with computers. I had to fix his laptop after an ugly coffee accident. Then I somehow become his personal internet researcher. Basically, if he had some sort of computer problem, he came to me. Apparently, the fact that it was his family’s name on the top of the building made it okay for him to pull me away from my actual job.

“Anyway, when he did finally have to take on the position of CEO, he told me that he wanted someone who he fully trusted helping him and keeping him organized. And so, despite the fact that I had no real secretarial skills, I found that I couldn’t tell him no. That’s how I become his EA.”

The story was a variation of the explanation that Felicity had been using for a couple of years now. It really wasn’t a lie; it just left out a whole layer of complexity that far more accurately portrayed why the MIT grad was working as Queen’s EA.

“So it wasn’t your wardrobe?”

“Whaat?” Felicity wasn’t sure if she had heard that question right.

“Ahh, that didn’t really come out right. I didn’t mean to imply…” Kari was feverishly trying to think of how to rephrase the question, when Felicity laid a hand on her forearm.

“Apparently, there are some things we need to talk about. Why don’t we go into Mr. Queen’s office and sit down. He’s apparently gone for the time being, so I don’t believe we’ll be interrupted.”

Kari nodded, but she felt like she may have just made a huge mistake.

The two women moved into Oliver’s office and over to the sitting area that looked out onto the city. Felicity noticed what an incredible view it was; despite the fact that her office had much the same view, she didn’t often take note of it. Another downside to the hectic lives she and Oliver lived, she realized. She then quickly brought her focus back to the woman in front of her.

Felicity mentally looked for a way to start the conversation, but really couldn’t find anything that wasn’t going to be pretty blunt. She was pretty sure that Kari had somehow decided she was in love with Oliver, but couldn’t understand why she had failed to catch his attention. Felicity knew that Oliver considered her to be very efficient as his EA, but that his sole attention was on her; after all they had been through, she was extremely confident of that fact.

“Kari, I don’t want to put you on the spot, and I want you to know that anything said here is between us. I won’t share anything with Oliver and it won’t make any difference as far as your job or anything like that. Do you understand?”

The other woman just nodded her head.

“So, I guess the big question is: do you somehow want your relationship with Oliver to be more than just boss and assistant?”

Kari’s eyes widened at the relative bluntness of the question, and it was obvious that she was considering how she should answer the question. Despite the assurance of confidentiality that Felicity had just given her, she felt like it would be really easy to answer the question the wrong way.

Finally she said, “I guess it is kind of hard not to want that, you know.” It was more of an admission than she wanted to make, but still didn’t necessarily say everything she felt.

“I have to admit that when you were named his EA the first time he ran the company, I was one of the ones that really felt cheated. When it was announced that he would be joining the firm, most of us in the pool wanted that job. And we didn’t even get to apply for it or interview for it.”

Felicity had never even thought about that aspect of Oliver’s decision. She had been too busy dealing with the turmoil he had created in her own life to think about the normal course of these things. She also hadn’t considered that while she definitely didn’t want the attention being Oliver’s EA had brought her way, that there might actually be women who would want that chance.

“You did have a relationship with him didn’t you? Everyone I talked to was convinced that the two of you were together?” Kari finally asked the question that was really burning inside of her.

Felicity sighed. She thought that all of that was behind her.

“No, Kari, Oliver and I were never together while I was his EA. I do understand why people thought that, but we were just good friends. There was never any physical relationship. Oliver was balancing a lot in his life at that point, and I was one of the few people he trusted. So I ended up not only being his assistant here at work, but his assistant for everything.”

“But you were his date for everything. I remember reading that you were pretty much always with him anytime he showed up at an event, work or otherwise.”

“Oliver pretty much gave up dating after a certain point. I think he was getting tired of messy relationships and so he just quit trying. But he couldn’t show up for some of those events by himself, so I because his default date. Trust me, it wasn’t as glamorous as it sounds.” Felicity said. She inwardly chuckled at the last statement. That seemed a huge understatement at this point.

“So you were never a couple?” Kari asked. Felicity couldn’t tell if there was a hint of hopefulness or despair in the other woman’s voice.

The real question was whether Felicity wanted to lie to Kari at this point. She and Oliver didn’t really lie about their relationship, but they almost never talked about it publicly. Oliver Queen really liked his privacy these days, and while he was no longer the target of constant stalking by the paparazzi and tabloid reporters, he knew that his name would be the highlight of any day’s news, if there was a hint of something the press thought they could use.

Felicity decided that Kari had proven herself trustworthy over the past year and that she probably deserved to know the truth.

“The truth is, Kari, is that Oliver and I are married. We have been for almost a year. We like our privacy so we have never made a big deal out of it. And I really hope that you will respect that for us.”

The brunette’s jaw had dropped momentarily, but she recovered fairly quickly. “Oh, my god. I’ve just made a huge fool of myself, haven’t I? I’m really sorry for asking you about this. You hate me now, don’t you?” The girl’s eyes were full of tears suddenly. “I really don’t want to lose this job, but I’m going to have to quit, aren’t I?”

Felicity felt sorry for the girl. She really did. She wondered if Kari was just infatuated with Oliver or if she had thought that working for Oliver – maybe any man who would consider making her more than just his assistant – was the only way to achieve her goals in life. Despite her own background, Felicity had never really understood how a woman could be happy being completely dependent on a man.

The funny thing is that pre-island Oliver was probably the kind of man who would do just that; find a pretty woman to marry him just because she looked good on his arm. Of course, that was assuming that pre-island Oliver would have been able to make something of himself in the business world. From everything he had told her that may have been beyond his capabilities.

Felicity again felt grateful that she hadn’t really known pre-island Oliver. Her Oliver certainly had enough baggage, but he wasn’t chaotic. And somewhere along the line, he had gained an appreciation for what a solid, loving relationship looked like. He constantly told her that that was due to her, but she wasn’t always convinced.

Felicity realized that she needed to reassure that girl across from her that her world hadn’t just ended. “Kari, I don’t think there is any need to worry about your job. I would like to trust that you’ll be able keep Oliver’s and my secret. If you can then I think we’re good. I would prefer that you not flirt with my husband, but from what Oliver says the two of you have a good working relationship. You should stay here. Lord knows the man doesn’t always handle change well.”

“Really? You’d let me keep working for him?”

“It’s not really my decision. It’s Oliver’s. But, no. I don’t really have a problem with you continuing to work for him,” Felicity reassured the girl.

‘What’s it like? Being married to Oliver?” Kari had almost whispered the question.

Felicity laughed. “It’s like any marriage. It’s a lot of work. You’ve been around him long enough to know that he can be moody, temperamental, and not great at communicating stuff. Well, take what you’ve experienced here at work and expand that to all facets of a person’s life. That’s my Oliver.

“It took us a long time to realize how much we loved each other. I think we both kept finding reasons not to have a relationship, instead of deciding on making one work. Once we got past that, we’ve been okay.”

Kari looked at Felicity with a little bit of awe. “How have you both managed to keep your marriage secret?”

“Oh, it’s not completely secret. HR knows. Most of the executives know. Oliver was actually supposed to tell you, but as usual he’s left that up to me. Again, he’ll never been known as the great communicator. Although he somehow manages to carry off his public responsibilities really well. I’ve never figured that out.” Felicity looked up, realizing that she had just rambled more about her private life than she had intended. “Sorry, I ramble occasionally. My brain-to-filter doesn’t work as well as it should.”

Kari smiled at that. “I’m really sorry that I had a thing for Mr. Queen. I wouldn’t have even considered it if I had known.”

Felicity waved her hand, indicating that she wasn’t worried. “I have been where you were. I liked him, long before he was willing to consider us. He made some bad choices when he first came back from the island, and I had to watch some of that. It wasn’t fun. Fortunately, he’s not that guy anymore.

“Kari, the one thing that I’ve learned with Oliver is that it takes a lot of work to create a solid relationship. We’re still working on it and I’d like to think that we work together better than most. I didn’t have a good background for how marriage works; my father left when I was seven. Oliver’s parents were more of a business merger than a marriage, so he didn’t have a great example of how it was supposed to work either. I’m not sure why I went here, but my point is that it would have been very hard for you to develop a relationship with Oliver under your current work arrangement. He and I worked much more closely than the two of you and it still took some extraordinary events for us to really get where we are.”

The other woman nodded in understanding. Before either of them could say more, the door to the office opened and Oliver walked in, followed by a man Felicity didn’t recognize.

Oliver took in the two woman sitting in his office. He looked at Felicity, and her brief smile was enough for him to relax. “I was going to ask if I should be worried, but I think I’ll let it pass.”

“I was just bringing Kari up to speed on some things that her boss should have taken care of,” Felicity said with a smirk. Then she waved her hand at the man behind Oliver. “Are you going to introduce me?”

Olive blinked and then turned halfway to the other man. “Felicity Smoak, this is Clark Kent, the reporter from the Daily Planet. Clark, this is Felicity. She is the head of IT and Cybersecurity here at Queen Consolidated.”

Kent stepped forward and extended his hand to the blonde woman. “It is nice to meet you, Ms. Smoak. Your reputation proceeds you. I have heard that you are really the one responsible for QC’s recent successes.”

Oliver laughed. “Despite the fact that Bruce talks too much, in this case he isn’t wrong. Felicity is at the forefront of most of QC’s tech success. I couldn’t run the company without her.” He turned to look at the woman in question. “Clark and I were going to grab some lunch. Would you like to join us?”

It only took a minute to iron out lunch plans and the three left the office.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the only one of the existing chapters that is really Felicity-centric and I suppose even more Kari-centric. My early story ideas tended to be one-off scenes that would slowly grow into a full blown story. As I indicated in the beginning notes for Chapter One, once I started actually plotting a longer story, these chapters were increasing out of sorts with the overall story.


	4. Superheroes and Their Secrets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver and Felicity travel to Central City, where Oliver introduces the Flash to Superman and Barry. Barry has to race Superman. Oh, and their girlfriends and wife start talking as well. Superheroes keep way too many secrets.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is, in some ways, the silliest thing I have ever written. In other ways, maybe not. I really enjoyed this one and as I did my final read through, I found that I really liked the way this came out. Sometimes, you write them for yourself. LOL
> 
> Please note that this story ignores pretty much anything after Arrow S3 (and as indicated with earlier stories) with only the bare minimum of plot points from that season. It also ignores most of the rest of the Arrowverse canon of the other three shows. The exception to this is that much of Barry and Oliver's crossover episodes happened as shown on the shows, but none of the Arrow/Flash/Legends/Supergirl crossovers happen. This is only because this verse veers off on a somewhat drastically different course from canon after Arrow 3x09. From the record, I have found both the "Invasion" and "Crisis on Earth-X" crossovers to be among my favorite stories during the last two years.

Iris West and Felicity Smoak picked up their coffees from the counter and moved over to one of the high top tables at CC Jitters. Being out of the office in the middle of the week was a rare enough treat, but Felicity certainly wasn’t going to say no when Oliver suggested that they travel to Central City to introduce Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent to Barry Allen. When he suggested Wednesday of the week after he had met with Kent, all the better. Things were quiet at Queen Consolidated for both of them, so it seemed like the perfect opportunity for a break.

Oliver was still hesitant about Bruce and Clark’s plan, but Felicity wasn’t. Having seen the benefits of Oliver and Barry working together already, she was one hundred percent behind an even greater collection of heroes banding together when needed. She counted it progress that Oliver had agreed to the meeting with Barry. She wasn’t sure whether Oliver was holding back due to his innate isolationist tendencies or the fact that Bruce and Clark felt that he would be the best option to make the tough calls, but she felt confident that she could persuade Oliver to commit wholeheartedly in the long run.

The fact that the guys were going to go off and beat each other up that afternoon simply meant that she and Iris got a chance to have some girl time. The two were dressed casually for a Wednesday. Iris had on a pair of charcoal casual slacks, a red summer weight sweater and short heels. Felicity had purposely worn an outfit reminiscent of the days when she first met Oliver: a pastel green button-up blouse, pencil skirt and her long-ignored panda flats. She had worried that Oliver wouldn’t keep his eyes on the road long enough to get them to Central City when they had slid into the Porsche that morning, but that was kind of the point. It was a fun trip.

Felicity immediately slid into her chair, but Iris had taken a long minute to look around the coffee shop after placing her cup on the table. It was an old habit, acquired during the time she worked there. Normally, once she remembered she didn’t have to actually wait on the customers, she was able to relax, but today, the brunette woman sitting in one of the armchairs just a couple of spots over drew her attention.

“It has been a long time since we’ve done this,” Felicity started, not realizing Iris’ distraction. “Too long, I’d say.”

“It has,” Iris agreed, pulling her attention back to her companion and finally sitting down. She then lowered her voice to a whisper. “Do you see the woman with the long dark hair working on a laptop?”

Felicity glanced in the direction Iris had indicated. A pretty woman with an intense look sat in one of the blocky, oversized armchairs. She was also dressed casually; a medium blue top matched with jeans and a pair of red Chuck Taylors. A high-end laptop rested on the table in front of her and she was periodically typing into it before stopping to read what she had written.

“Yeah?” Felicity said, returning her gaze to Iris.

“That’s Lois Lane. From the Daily Planet.”

Felicity squinted. “You sure? She’d be a long way from home.”

“Pretty sure. Her hair’s longer than the picture on the Planet’s website and she’s prettier in person, but yeah, I think that’s her. She’s kind of an idol of mine.”

“I can understand that. I talked to her for a few minutes over the phone last year. She was interviewing Oliver and wanted some input from me. It was right after I took over as CISO at QC. She asks the tough questions.”

“Wonder what she’s doing in Central City? Things have been quiet in town for a while.”

Felicity shrugged. The two fell silent as they took sips of their drinks. Iris was about to ask Felicity about her not quite secret wedding when Lois Lane stood up and approached them.

She looked at Felicity when she reached the side of the table. “Hi. You’re Felicity Smoak, right? Lois Lane. We talked on the phone a few months ago.”

Felicity nodded, her ponytail bobbing with the motion and she reached out to shake the offered hand from the reporter.

Lois turned to look at Iris. “And you’re Iris West, if I’m not mistaken. Reporter for Central City Picture News? Specializes in covering the Flash?”

“Wow. Yes, I am. I’m really surprised you know who I am,” Iris said, just a hint of a blush coloring her cheeks.

“Oh, I’ve followed your articles on the Flash since you first started. I think you’ve done an incredibly good job presenting him fairly. Even after you obviously got to know him.”

Iris tensed. “What do you mean?”

Lois half-shrugged. “When you first started reporting on him on your blog, it was obvious that you hadn’t met him. You were reporting sightings, establishing patterns and trends, you know, trying to figure what the guy was up to. That carried over to when you started at Picture News. At some point, though, you got to meet him, right?”

“Yes, but how could you know? Did something change?”

“Once you met him, your reports became just a touch more personal. You had greater insight into the type of person he was. The same thing happened to me after I interviewed Superman the first time. I didn’t realize it at first, but someone pointed out how much better the stories became after that first interview.”

Lois’s eyes grew big as a thought occurred to her. “You don’t know who he is, do you?”

Iris blinked several times. “Who?”

“The Flash, of course.”

Iris shook her head a little too hard. “No, I don’t.”

Lois turned to Felicity. She then glanced back at Iris before asking Felicity, “Maybe this is just the reporter in me working overtime, but how is it that you two know each other?”

“I’m friends with Iris’s boyfriend, Barry Allen. I met him a couple of years ago when he was working a case in Starling City.”

“Barry Allen, huh. He’s a forensic scientist for CCPD, right? He’s kind of the reason I’m here.”

“You’re here to meet Barry? I think he would have said something about that.” Iris said.

It was Lois’s turn to blush, although it was no more than a pinkening of her cheeks. “No, my colleague Clark came to town to interview him. I think. But when Clark Kent goes off to interview a random crime scene tech, I get suspicious. The more random whatever it is Clark is chasing, the more likely there’s a big story behind it. I’m trying to find out what he’s working on. I can’t let the big galoot get all the fun.”

“Barry didn’t say anything about meeting a reporter,” Iris offered.

Lois looked as if she had more questions, but a fourth woman interrupted the conversation. She was about the same height as Lois, but that was aided by the black heeled boots she wore. The rest of her outfit was also black: relaxed leather pants, a black silky camisole and lightweight jacket. She was slim, but fairly athletic and her black pixie cut added to the overall gymnast vibe she gave off.

“Did you say something about a Barry Allen? That’s who my … boyfriend is meeting. He asked me to come along with him to Central City, but got all secretive about his meeting once we got here.”

Even Felicity’s senses were on alert now. She suspected that Iris was purposely not revealing how much she knew about what Barry was doing, but she also knew that Iris hadn’t been told everything, like why Barry was meeting with Clark, Bruce and Oliver. She wasn’t even sure Iris knew Oliver was the Arrow yet. Was this new woman with Bruce or was there someone else involved as well?

“If you don’t mind me asking, who is your boyfriend?” Felicity said.

The fourth woman glanced between the other three before giving a short shrug. “Bruce Wayne. My name is Selina, by the way. Selina Kyle.”

It was Lois who asked what seemed to be the obvious question. “Bruce Wayne has a girlfriend? Since when?”

Selina smiled at that. “For a while now, actually. We like to keep our relationship private, though.”

“Uh, huh,” Lois said and Felicity snorted at that, causing the reporter to look her way.

“Oh, and I suppose you’re going to tell me that you’re dating Oliver Queen, Miss Smoak.”

“Married to him, actually,” Felicity said with a grin. “Although, I prefer not to have that broadcast all over the place. I probably shouldn’t have said anything, but well, I am married to Oliver and that seems like something to brag about, doesn’t it. And now, I’m going to shut up in 3 … 2 … 1.”

Iris was grinning from ear to ear.

Felicity looked at her with a glare. “What?”

Iris’s grin grew wider. “I had forgotten just how great your rambles are.”

Felicity just shook her head. “I think I’ll go let my husband know that I just told a reporter that our relationship status isn’t quite as private as it was this morning.”

Lois reached for Felicity’s arm as the other woman got up. “I’m not in the business of making news of things like this. I have some questions I like to ask you, but I don’t know that there’s anything that I feel compelled to reveal to the world. Can we talk when you get back?”

“Yeah. We can. Let me go make my call and then we’ll talk.”

Felicity could hear the other three women continue talking as she walked to the alleyway in the back of the café.

< = = = = = >

Oliver and Bruce were sitting on a crate in the middle of the Star Labs building on the outskirts of Central City, still dressed in their vigilante uniforms with their hood and cowl pulled back. Introducing Barry to Bruce and Clark had gone almost exactly as he had figured it would. Barry had been just slightly less enthusiastic than a kid in a candy store with an unlimited budget. It took him ten minutes to get through all of his ‘essential’ questions. Bruce and Clark barely had time to answer before another question was asked. Even as the four of them moved into demonstrating powers and skills to each other and began to figure out if they could work together as a unit, Barry had been asking questions. Oliver and Bruce had focused on developing battle strategies, even though they both recognized the lack of a known threat made any planning purely theoretical. Still, the four of them had all faced a variety of foes over the years and they used those experiences as a starting point.

Clark had finally declared that he thought that the four of them could reasonably work together to handle a variety of threats, even without including the various allies that Barry, Bruce and Oliver had gathered over the years. They also all agreed that they still needed to attempt to contact the ‘Wonder Woman’ who had started to make a name for herself in the Boston area and the ‘Aquaman’ who had been spotted up and down the Atlantic Coast.

They were all about ready to change back into their regular clothes when Barry had asked Clark how fast he could run and after a few minutes of trash-talking, much to Oliver and Bruce’s amusement, Clark had agreed to race. Oliver and Bruce were just waiting for the two to finish before they changed.

The quiet of the warehouse was disrupted by Oliver’s cell. He glanced at the screen to see that Felicity was calling him. Bruce snorted at the smile on his face as he answered.

“Hi, Hun. What’s up?”

“Uh, Iris and I ran into a couple of unexpected strangers this afternoon at Jitters.”

“Okay. Should I be worried?” Oliver asked, thoroughly confused.

“Oh, no need for you to be, but Bruce and Clark may need to be.”

Bruce had perked up beside him, signaling that he had heard his name mentioned.

“Can you elaborate on that?” Oliver asked, glancing over at Bruce.

“Well, when Iris and I sat down with our coffees, Iris noticed that Lois Lane was sitting in the café. Miss Lane recognized both of us and eventually said that she was chasing Clark Kent because she thinks he’s here on a story. All she knows for sure is that he was meeting Barry.”

“Oh.”

“And then we were approached by a Selina Kyle, who says that she’s Bruce girlfriend and all she knew is that he was meeting Barry. And I don’t think Iris knows that Barry was actually meeting Superman and Batman. Oh, and I might have mentioned – accidentally – that you and I were married. To Lois Lane. So, all and all, it’s been a really exciting afternoon on my end and I haven’t even finished my coffee.”

Oliver couldn’t keep the smile off his face.

“God, you’re a sap, Queen,” Bruce decided to add helpfully.

“Shut up, Wayne. Felicity, Barry and Clark are – racing – so when they get back, we’ll figure out how to handle this and I’ll text you.”

“Okay. That sounds like a plan. I’ll just go continue to play dumb.”

“Felicity Smoak. That’s the one thing, you’ve never been. Just go girl talk. I’ll get back to you shortly.”

Felicity snorted and hung up.

Oliver looked at Bruce. “Girlfriend, huh?”

Bruce shrugged, but was saved from needing to answer further when Barry and Clark roared back into the building, Barry a couple of steps ahead of Clark.

“Hah!” Barry exclaimed when he came to a full stop, hands raised in victory.

“I tripped, Barry! You can’t claim victory just because you took advantage of it,” was Clark’s response, but he obviously was amused by the whole thing.

Oliver and Bruce approached them.

“I take it you boys had fun?” Wayne asked.

Barry grinned. “This may be the best day I’ve had since I got powers.” Oliver rolled his eyes, but Bruce and Clark both laughed.

“Yeah, well tone down your excitement. We may have hit a little snag, and we need to figure out what to do about it.” He turned to Bruce. “I take it your girlfriend came with you?”

“Selina. And yes, she came with me. She does not know why I’m here exactly, but it won’t take much for her to figure out that it is Batman related.” He grew sheepish suddenly. “She not only know about Batman, but she’s Catwoman. A former jewel thief and now one of my allies in Gotham.”

Clark huffed. “Nothing complicated about that, is there?”

“Hey. I didn’t tell her what I was doing because I wasn’t going to just give up your secret identities. I figured she would think I was looking into some new devices for Wayne Industries. She only knew I was meeting with Barry.”

Oliver looked at Clark next. “Don’t look so smug, blue. Your girlfriend followed you because she’s thinks you’re chasing a big story.”

“My girlfriend?”

Oliver wanted to laugh at the confused look on his face. Barry did.

“Oh. Oh! Lois is in town? Of course, she would follow me. And how did you know she was my girlfriend?” He rolled his eyes.

“Yes, and now she is currently back at the coffee shop grilling my wife, Barry’s fiancée and Bruce’s girlfriend for information. I guessed the girlfriend part.”

Clark sagged a little, which Oliver found somehow impressive on the big man.

Bruce chipped in with what he felt was the important question. “Does she know that Clark Kent is Superman? Since you’re dating her?”

Oliver and Barry’s eyes both snapped back to Clark.

Clark actually bit down on his lower lip for a second before he answered.

“Yes, we are dating. About three months now. And no, I haven’t told her about the secret identity.”

Bruce actually groaned.

Oliver said, “Well, that makes this a little more complicated than I thought.”

Barry asked, “I’m curious. Have you not told her because …” He lowered his voice in imitation of Oliver’s Arrow voice. “‘Guys like us don’t get the girl’ or was it ‘Because of the life I lead, I just think it’s better not to be with someone I could really care about.’”

“What?” confused Clark asked.

“Shut up, Barry.”

Barry grinned, pointed at Oliver. “True fact. Mr. Self-sacrifice Queen used both those lines. The first was his sage advice to me a couple of years and the second excuse was offered directly to his now wife once upon a time.”

Oliver huffed in annoyance. “Felicity gossips with you way too much, and right now you’re not helping.”

Clark scratched the back of his head. “I’ve been trying to figure out how to tell Lois, but it’s not like you can just offer up your secret identity in normal conversation. I haven’t figured how, any way.”

Bruce took the bull by the horns. “So let me get this straight. While we have been getting to know one another this afternoon, our significant others …” he tilted his head at Clark “…have been getting to know one another as well. The only one of them who knows exactly what is going on is Felicity. Selina knows that I’m the Bat, but doesn’t know about the three of you, exactly anyway. Which leaves the two reporters, one of which knows about her significant other, but doesn’t know about the rest of us.”

“I’m pretty sure I’ve told her that Oliver is the Arrow,” Barry said. “Maybe?”

“And I’m okay with her knowing, but how can you only be maybe sure?”

Barry shrugged. “I don’t remember when I told her, so maybe she doesn’t know?” he ended with a question.

Oliver and Bruce shook their heads, and Bruce continued, “And the other reporter doesn’t know anything, and as far as I’m concerned, her boyfriend is the one with the biggest secret.”

“Hey!” Clark’s discomfort was written all over his face.

“Clark. You’re Superman. And you’re an alien. And your girlfriend may be more in love with your superhero identity than your real identity.”

Oliver decided that he really appreciated Bruce bluntness sometimes. It could be highly amusing.

“Yeah, okay, when you put it that way, it sounds bad,” Clark sighed.

“I think the real question is this: since we’re all relatively comfortable with knowing each other identities ...” Oliver said, trying to steer the conversation back on point.

“Well, it’s a little late if one of us feels otherwise,” Barry deadpanned.

“… are we comfortable letting each other’s significant others in on the secret?” Bruce finished.

“I’m not sure that’s helpful to me, Bruce.” Clark pointed out.

“Actually, Clark, this may be the way to do it. Revealing to her the other secrets at work here may lessen your own. Despite the fact that she’s Lois Lane, I trust her to know my identity, just like I trust Iris. They both have a personal stake in this,” offered Oliver.

Clark looked at the other three men for a minute, obviously calculating the odds of how a reveal like this was going to go. He then turned and looked towards Central City, his eyes trying to focus on something for a couple of minutes before he stopped and, at least it appeared to others, just stared.

“I’m not sure about this, but I think you’re right, Oliver.”

“Did you just use your telescopic vision to find the girls? That is so cool. Are they all still together? What are they talking about?” Barry gushed.

“Yes, they’re together. Things seem relaxed. I didn’t try to read their lips, Barry.”

“Okay. Do I have Felicity and Iris bring them all out here?”

Bruce and Barry immediately answered with “yes!”

“It’s okay if you don’t want to, Clark. We can get dressed and meet them at Jitters with some story about a scientific breakthrough Barry has made.”

“No. Go ahead and have them come here. I’ll make it work.”

“She’s not going to leave you, Smallville. She may be mad for a while, but she’ll get over it,” Bruce quipped, slapping Clark chest.

< = = = = = >

When Felicity had returned, the four women had moved over to the seating area where Lois had set up shop. The Daily Planet reporter had finished a couple of things before shutting the laptop and rejoining to the conversation. Predictably enough, the conversation had quickly moved to Felicity and Oliver’s marriage and how they had managed to keep it secret.

Felicity had pointed out that since the two of them were relatively private individuals at heart, it really hadn’t been too difficult. She related how they both had to work to really convince QC’s HR Department that there wouldn’t be any problem. The HR Director had somehow been aghast that Oliver had ended up marrying his former EA and was for some reason objecting to the two of them being in a relationship. Oliver finally told her that they were already married, that Felicity would be taking a position that allowed her to work pretty much independent of him organizationally and that the HR Director was not going to offer any more objections because he did not really care what she thought about it. He finished by pointing out that his parents were both employed by the company when they started dating, so her gripes were pointless.

The others were pretty amused by the story and Selina finally offered that she was pretty sure that she wouldn’t be able to work with Bruce if they were in the same situation. Lois finally fessed up to dating Clark. She pointed out that the two of them had to make some very big promises to their editor Perry White that there would be no problems with their relationship in the newsroom and in the event they didn’t work out that they could maintain their professionalism while working with each other.

Iris had just started with the story about growing up with Barry when Felicity’s phone rang again. A quick glance at the screen confirmed that it was Oliver calling her back. She excused herself and walked back to the alley.

“Who won the race?” she said when she answered.

“What? Oh, Barry just barely, but Clark claims that he tripped and Barry took advantage.”

“So, basically, they’re a couple of big kids.”

“Yeah, basically. Okay, here’s the plan. Believe it or not.”

Felicity looked back to see if any of the others had followed, but she was alone.

“Go ahead.”

“You and Iris are going to bring Lois and Selina out to the Star Labs warehouse facility. Barry says Iris knows where it is.”

“Okay, that sounds easy.”

“Yeah, that part will be. The problem is that you’re the only one that knows what we were doing today. Clark says that Lois doesn’t even know he’s Superman. We’re going to explain to all four of you what’s going on at the same time. Clark’s just hoping that Lois doesn’t lose it.”

“He’s really that worried?” she asked.

“I think he’s worried. I don’t know how much. There’s a lot of naïve farm boy left in Clark and he’s still figuring out how to handle Lois. They definitely make an interesting pair.”

“That was my impression, too. Well, I guess I’ll see you shortly. Love you.”

Oliver chuckled. “I love you, too. See you soon.”

Felicity went back inside and over to the seating area.

Iris looked up at here, at little expectantly. “Is everything okay? I know Oliver always misses you, but you haven’t been apart that long.”

Felicity frowned at that, but waved her friend off. “Yeah. Everything’s fine. This may come as a surprise, but all four of the guys are together.”

“Say what?” Lois exclaimed.

“There’s a story. Which is not really mine to tell, so Oliver asked that we all go meet the guys and they’ll explain.”

“Where are they?” Iris asked.

“Out at the Star Labs warehouse? Barry told Oliver you’d know where it is.”

Iris nodded, but screwed up her face at that. Barry tended to use the warehouse for Flash stuff, so she was a little confused as to what two billionaires and a reporter could be doing out at the warehouse.

Lois looked more concerned than Iris.

“Smallville better not be yanking me around. I may like the guy, but I don’t like games.”

Once they had gathered their things and were headed for the door, Felicity moved so that she was walking next to the taller woman.

“Lois, I can promise you that this is nothing bad. As a matter of fact, it will be far more interesting than you can imagine.”

“I don’t know, Felicity. I’ve got a pretty good imagination. I take it you do know what the guys have been up to?”

“Oliver keeps me in the loop most of the time. It took us a while to get here, because lord knows the man likes his secrets. But yes, I know what is going on.”

The four fell silent as they loaded up in Iris’s SUV. Selina took the front seat, leaving Lois and Felicity to sit in the back seats.

After they had gotten underway, Lois asked Felicity, “So I take it Clark is not looking at some scientific discovery that Barry Allen is presenting?”

“Not exactly.” Felicity looked at Lois for a minute, watching as the reporter obviously cycled through possibilities in her mind. Finally she asked the other woman, “How long have you and Clark been dating and how much do you know about him?”

“We’ve been dating about three months, but I’ve known him for several years. He came to Metropolis about three years ago. Same time as Superman made himself known, actually.”

Selina turned around at that.

“I know what you’re thinking Selina, but I’ve been down that road. Clark is not Superman. I long ago eliminated him as a candidate.”

Felicity was about to say something, but her phone dinged. She looked down at the screen to find that Oliver had texted her.

Oliver: We were talking and think that you should start the explanations. Start with me and then Barry since you’ve known us the longest.

“Sure, Oliver, I’ll do the dirty work as usual,” Felicity muttered.

“What was that?” Lois asked beside her.

Felicity took a deep breath and explained. “Apparently, I get to start with the secret sharing. Bear with me as I try to explain this in a logical order.”

Lois shifted in her seat to better see Felicity, but Selina turned back to the front.

“I have a feeling, I’ll have guessed a fair amount of this,” she said smugly.

That drew a quick look from both Felicity and Lois, but Felicity quickly refocused.

“Okay, I think you are all aware that Oliver was shipwrecked for five years in the North China Sea. What he has never made publicly known is that his father survived the shipwreck long enough to give him a mission and that he was not on the island for the entire five years. When he finally came home, it was because he was ready to carry out his father’s mission. If you know him well enough, he will tell you that he had become someone else during that time.”

“What does that mean?” Lois asked.

Felicity could tell that she was in full reporter mode, but decided to forego any cautionary remarks right now.

“Robert Queen was involved with a group of wealthy elites in Starling City that had become totally focused on what they could do for themselves. His best friend, Malcolm Merlyn, decided that the Glades had become so bad that it should be destroyed rather than rehabilitated. Robert was running from Malcolm, but Malcolm had the Queen’s Gambit wrecked in an effort to stop Robert. Robert lived long enough to leave Oliver with a list of people who were involved in Malcolm’s Undertaking. That was the name of the plan behind the earthquake that hit the Glades in Starling City. Oliver, John Diggle and I tried to stop it, but Malcolm had two earthquake machines; we didn’t know about the second.”

Felicity took a minute to gather herself. She still found it difficult remembering the events of that night.

“I’m not sure I understand.” Lois said.

“Oliver was the Hood, wasn’t he?” asked Selina from the front row.

Felicity looked up at her, but Selina was still facing forward.

“Yes, although he has gone by the Arrow for the last several years.”

“Oliver Queen is the Arrow?” asked Iris from the driver’s seat.

Felicity smirked at that. “Yes, my husband is the Arrow.”

“Wow, he just got so much hotter,” Iris muttered softly. It wasn’t soft enough and the other three woman smiled at the comment.

Lois quickly refocused, though. “The Hood was a … take no prisoners kind of guy, wasn’t he? But from everything I read, the Arrow has only killed when necessary.” Her eyes opened wide as she realized something. “Matter of fact, one of the few times he killed someone was to save you, right?”

Felicity frowned at that memory, then said, “Yes. And I hated that he had to do so. That first year back, Oliver went through a lot. It took a lot for him to figure out how to regain his humanity. But he is a vastly different person now. I … don’t know how to explain it otherwise.”

“Okay, but I don’t see how your husband being the Arrow ties in to what the guys are doing. Well, specifically why Clark is there?”

“Oh, I’m nowhere near the end of the story. As I mentioned earlier, I first met Barry Allen the year after the Undertaking. Starling City was being attacked by an old friend of Oliver’s from the island who had gone insane. Slade Wilson was injected on the island with a World War II super-soldier serum that gave him incredible strength and endurance, but made him cray-cray. He was creating an army of similarly affected criminals to help him get revenge for something he thought Oliver had done. Barry noticed the strange nature of one of his first crimes and came to investigate.”

“Why would he do that?” Lois asked.

Iris chipped in at this point. “Barry’s mother was murdered under very mysterious circumstances when he was eleven and his father was imprisoned for it. He grew up training himself to solve the mystery. He would chase down anything out of the ordinary.”

“He helped us solve that particular crime and saved Oliver’s life along the way. He and I also … flirted a bit, but eventually I realized he was in love with someone else,” Felicity continued with a significant glance in Iris’s direction.

That earned a return look from Iris, but it was brief.

She again picked up the story again, though. “Barry was one of the victims of the Particle Accelerator that exploded in Central City a few years ago. Depending on the circumstances, and we suppose, the person’s genetics, certain individuals caught in the explosion developed powers. Barry was hit by lightning in his lab at the exact same time as the dark matter wave rolled through.” She paused. “I lied before. I do know who the Flash is. It’s Barry.”

Lois looked at the back of Iris’s head for a long moment before turning back to Felicity. “Why are the two of you telling me this? Does this have something to do with Clark?”

There was silence again until Selina finally exclaimed, “Ohhhhhh. I get it. Wow.”

She shifted in her seat to look back at Lois, before glancing at Felicity. “May I?”

Felicity just nodded. She had realized that Selina was in on Bruce’s secret and that she had just pieced the rest together.

“Bruce also has a big secret. One he shares with Oliver and Barry. You know that his parents were killed when he was young, right?”

Lois just nodded her head.

“Well, much like Oliver and Barry, that event had a major impact on him. He dedicated himself to being able to prevent that kind of loss from happening to anyone else. He’s a bit of an overachiever,” she said, with a sly grin.

Lois didn’t really respond, and the grin slid off Selina’s face.

“Anyway, Bruce spent much of his teen years and early twenties preparing himself to wage war on Gotham’s criminals. Somewhere along the line, he decided he could best accomplish this by dressing up as a giant bat. Bruce Wayne is Batman, Lois.”

Lois Lane was stunned. She knew Bruce Wayne; she had interviewed him a couple of times and had admired his dedication to helping the less fortunate through the Wayne Foundation. She had even been his date once or twice to charity galas held in Metropolis. He had always been an incredible flirt, actually. Bruce Wayne was, in her mind, a nice guy with a huge sense of civic responsibility, even if he came across a little superficial at times.

From the driver’s seat, Iris let out a low whistle. “Well, ladies, I’ve got to say, we can certainly pick ’em.”

Iris focused back on the road and pulled off onto the lane that led back toward the Star Labs Test Facility. Up ahead sat the towering building. The front looked like a cross between an old style railroad station and an aircraft terminal, all white stone, towering center arch and end towers. Iris drove up the lane until she reached the now neglected gardens in front of the building, but then turned to the right, taking an access lane around the building to the back.

Lois turned to Felicity. “Why are you all telling me this? I can’t see the Arrow or the Batman suddenly deciding to share their secrets with Clark Kent, or any reporter for that matter.”

“You really don’t see it, do you?” Selina asked. She bluntly added, “Clark has gotta to be Superman. There’s no other reason for the four of them to be together today.”

“But…”

Selina and Felicity both watched as Lois worked her way through everything she knew and had just been told. Her look of concentration was broken by a couple of frowns, but mostly her expression was blank.

She finally looked up, realizing that the SUV had stopped on the back side of the building.

“Smallville’s a dead man.”

Selina snorted at that, before opening her door and exiting the vehicle. The other three woman followed and headed as a group to the open hanger door.

Felicity moved next to Lois again and looped her hand around Lois’s arm. “I know we don’t know each other very well, but I think you should give Clark a chance to explain all this. I got to meet him last week when he visited Oliver and I think that despite the fact he’s the most powerful one of the group, he is the most naïve as well. I’m guessing that he hasn’t figured out how to tell you his secrets yet.”

Lois’s voice had an edge to it when she answered, indicating how angry she was. “I’ve know the man for three years, Felicity. It’s not like he hasn’t been my chief suspect as Superman in the past. Lord knows the man is flaky enough, although the secret identity explains a lot.”

Felicity nodded in understanding. “Before Oliver revealed himself to me, he would show up at QC with these ridiculous requests for help and even more ridiculous lies to explain them. I didn’t believe the lies, but I believed in him from the start. I didn’t understand why until I had to help save his life – the first time.”

Lois looked at her carefully, obviously trying to figure out why that was important. 

“Oliver finally told me that he had loved me almost from the start. When he finally realized that he was in love with me, the first thing he said to me was some nonsense about how he couldn’t be with someone he could really care about. It took him a long time to realize that being together was more important than the danger I might be in. Or in my case, the danger I was already in since I was helping him on a daily basis.”

“Oh,” Lois said, and Felicity thought she might be getting it.

“Superman is possibly the most powerful person on the planet, Lois. But you’re human. I’m guessing, Clark’s still figuring out how to have everything he wants, just like Oliver had to figure it out.”

“Do you really think so?” Lois asked, the anger gone from her voice finally.

“Yeah, I do.”

Just as she said this, the four walked into the relatively dark hanger area. Lois took a quick look around, idly noting the scattered utility vehicles and testing areas arranged off to the right. In the open center area, stood the four men: Superman on the left, the Flash, Batman and the Arrow on the far right. The Flash and Batman had their cowls pushed back off their faces, as was the Arrow’s hood. Except for Superman, the other three wore the barest hint of a smirk, but the Man of Steel’s face was etched with apprehension.

The four woman marched up to them and before anyone could say a word, Lois Lane threw her arms around the much taller superhero and kissed him. The other six individuals watched in varying shades of surprise and amusement, until finally Bruce Wayne said, “I knew Clark was going to get off easy.”

Barry laughed out loud, as did the other three women. Oliver just shook his head, wearing one of his rare grins.

When Lois pulled back, she locked eyes with the man she now could plainly see was both Clark Kent and Superman. “Despite Mr. Wayne’s assertion, there WILL be a long conversation in near our future about keeping secrets, Mr. Kent. You are not off the hook in any way, just yet.”

Kent grinned and nodded his agreement.

Lois stood back, suddenly realizing how impulsive she had been. She looked around the group and finally asked, “So what is important enough that the four of you had to finally meet? I’m assuming this is a first meeting?”

With a glance at the open hanger door, Barry offered, “Why don’t we all move into the offices in the front part of the building. We’ll be more comfortable and a little less exposed.”

They all did so, with the four superheroes even changing back into civilian clothes before joining their significant others.

“So, how much did you explain on the ride over, Felicity?” Oliver asked as the men took seats around a conference table. He hand had unconsciously gone to her shoulder and he pulled her chair closer as he sat down.

“Just how and why you become the Arrow and how Barry became the Flash. Selina filled in Bruce’s story. And figured out that Clark had to be Superman. Nothing about why you were all meeting today.”

“I guess I can answer that,” Bruce said. “Since I started this.”

Everyone looked at him expectantly.

“I first thought about this a couple of years ago. Several of the criminals that inhabit Gotham decided that if they worked together they could bring me down and achieve their goals. It forced me to rethink how I worked; it forced me to gather some allies that I would have previously rejected as unworkable.”

Selina reached over and ran her hand up and down Bruce’s back softly, making it clear that she had been one of his newfound allies.

“The threat was still manageable, but it occurred to me that eventually there could be a threat that isn’t manageable by one or two of us or by our teams, in all our cases except for Clark.”

“So what’s your plan, Bruce? Just get as many vigilantes, heroes, whatever you call yourselves and throw it at the problem du jour?” Lois asked.

Clark’s head snapped around to look at the reporter sitting next to him, obviously surprised at almost accusatory tone.

“Lois…”

“Hush, Smallville. I want to hear what the great thinker has to say.”

“I wish it was as simple as that, Lois. It’s not. Not by any stretch of the imagination. Today was the first time that we’ve tried even this many diverse skill sets together. Clark and I have worked together a couple of times in the past, but in a very limited sense. More like passing along information and taking care of part of a problem that the other couldn’t.”

“Barry and I have done a little more than that, but we’ve had very few opportunities to team up,” Oliver added.

Barry added, “And as much as it sounds like fun, it is hard to work with someone that you aren’t familiar with. That’s why Oliver works much better with his support team. So do I. I’m guessing that Bruce does too. I have to agree with Bruce, though. The dangers are out there. If Clark is an alien, then there are probably more. I’m guessing that some of them won’t be as Earth-friendly as he is.”

“Don’t you think it would help if there were some kind of central organization behind this?”

“What? Like the government? Surely you can’t be serious,” answered Bruce.

Lois started to respond to that, but was interrupted by Oliver.

“That would be an automatic no-go for me. I’ve seen first-hand how the government approaches this type of thing. I don’t care how well intentioned the thought behind it is, the implementation will immediately get corrupted.”

Lois looked over at Oliver, obviously not fully believing his opinion. “Look, Mr. Queen – Oliver – I understand that not all government operates as well as they should, but I’ve got to believe that there’s an entity somewhere that could lead this.”

Oliver took a deep breath and Felicity reached over and laid a hand on his arm. “Two of the five years I was missing, Lois, I spent working for a government agency called A.R.G.U.S. Ever hear of it?”

“I heard of it, but can’t say I know much about it,” Lois admitted.

“That the way they want it. There are good people working there, including my best friend’s wife, but they are also capable of the most despicable activities you can imagine. I was forced to work to for them, for no other reason than I had accidently disrupted one of their operations. An operation to down a commercial jet in order to kill one person. One person, Lois. They taught me how to be an assassin and worse during that time, all under the guidance of their field director. A.R.G.U.S. has helped me out since then, but they also like to use convicted criminals to execute overly dangerous missions. They call them the ‘Suicide Squad.’ The idea is that the criminals are expendable and can be used without any real sense of loss if they are killed. All it takes is the wrong person in charge and all of the best intentions go right out the window.”

Lois was obviously taken aback at Oliver’s statement. He was a little surprised; he would have expected Clark to be ignorant of the potential dark side of things, but Lois had struck him as a little more pragmatic and realistic about the nature of things. He knew her father was career military, so even mild shock at what A.R.G.U.S. was capable of was unexpected.

“So you’re saying that we let a group of super-powered individuals just operate unfettered?” The reporter said.

Felicity noticed that Iris had been very invested in Lois’s questioning. She turned back to Bruce as he picked up the discussion.

“Yes and no. First of all, I don’t think any of us…” He gestured at the other three men. “…have ever operated unfettered. Any time law enforcement or public opinion is critical of your actions, you are not operating unfettered. More importantly, if the four of us, let alone others operating in the same manner, start to band together, we’re going to act as a system of checks and balances.”

Clark Kent finally joined in. “Lois, the first time I meet Bruce as Batman, it was because I was worried about how he was carrying out his activities in Gotham. Looking back, it was a little presumptive of me, but I thought that I knew what was best as far as operating as an extra-legal agent. I’ve never considered myself a vigilante, so Bruce actions really bothered me. That meeting didn’t go particularly well.”

“Yeah. I was pretty sure I didn’t need some big blue boy scout telling me how to stop criminals in Gotham City.”

“He was right. And he forced me to rethink my place in the scheme of things.”

“So you think every vigilante is going to fall in line with you?” Lois asked.

Felicity happened to look at Oliver’s face just then. She saw that he was impressed by Lois’s doggedness on this.

It was Oliver that answered Lois’s question. “No, Lois, we don’t. It took Bruce some work to convince me to participate. And I’m not completely convinced this solves the problem. Well, all the problems, anyway. But the longer I look at the potential threats – the more I see the threats that have come after me or Starling City – I realize that there are times when one person or even one small team isn’t going to be enough.”

Oliver continued, “For me, I have enough faith that all of us are trying to do the right thing, Lois, and we as a group can keep each other in line. Bruce and I have even talked about contingency plans should he or I become a problem.”

“You did what?” Selina looked at Bruce incredulously.

“Don’t be surprised, Selina. You know some of it. Lois isn’t the only one able to see the dangers here.”

There was a long silence. Bruce and Selina were having a silent discussion that reminded Felicity of herself and Oliver at times. When she looked to the other side, Lois and Clark were doing the same, but their relationship was obviously not nearly as far along as the other three couples, because both wore a questioning look on their faces.

Clark shook himself and decided to move the conversation along. “The potential threats are more than what we’ve just discussed here. While I have always considered myself human, I eventually discovered that my Kryptonian parents had sent an encyclopedia of knowledge from my home planet. That collection makes it clear that there are extra planetary threats that could eventually trouble earth.”

Barry added, “There are also other dimensions and other earths out there. No all of them are going to be friendly either.”

Felicity wasn’t surprised by any of this. The combination of her own geeky background and her experiences with Oliver and Barry had proven that the world is much bigger and stranger than what most people could imagine. Iris looked surprised, but her own experiences with the Flash had hardened her to the possibilities. For the first time that day, Selina looked like she had been taken by surprise, but Lois looked stunned. Felicity wasn’t sure how; surely the woman had seen some incredible things in the last three years alone, but from the looks of it, she had never considered all of the possibilities.

Clark reached out to her, gently. His hand slid around her arm and pulled her to him. He spoke softly to her, but Felicity was close enough to still hear.

“I’m always going to protect you. I’ve felt that way for a long time, and that’s not going to change. Do you understand?”

Everyone had heard Clark.

Bruce said what they were all thinking. “Lois, we’re all human here. Even Clark. We do what we do to protect those closest to us even more than we do to protect our cities or their citizens. I am one hundred percent confident of that.”

The other three woman nodded their agreement, even though Felicity was sure that none of the women felt as if they were dependent on their hero.

“So, are you going to limit yourselves to you four? There are other super-powered individuals out there.”

“No,” Bruce was quick to answer. “But we’re going to proceed carefully. I have at least three more individuals that we’re going to approach. The woman in Boston, the aquatic guy on the east coast and the guy with the ring out in California. I had a connection to Oliver, Clark and Barry, so that was where I started, but from here on out, we go a little more slowly.”

Bruce paused, waiting to see if anyone had any more questions.

He was about ready to wrap things up, when Iris spoke up. “Why were you willing to share all of this with us? This is a lot of secrets to share. Why now?”

It was Oliver that answered. “We realized that it wasn’t fair to keep this from you. Felicity has been a complete partner to my crusade for years and I learned long ago that things go better by sharing that confidence with her. Each of us approaches this part of our lives differently, but we all felt that it was important for you to know what was going on.”

Lois looked at Clark.

He flashed a quick, shy smile. “I’ve been trying to figure out how to tell you for weeks, Lois. It was going to happen, but I feel like you knowing, let alone being in a relationship with me, places a target on our back.”

“Clark, I’ve been kidnapped three times because criminals have assumed there was a connection between us. It really doesn’t matter if the relationship is real or not because some criminal going to make that assumption regardless.”

Everybody looked at Oliver and Felicity when she backhanded his chest. “See Oliver, I tried telling you that for years.”

He had grabbed her hand and was rubbing her knuckles. “And apparently, I still get punished even though I long ago learned my lesson.”

Barry started laughing, signaling the end of the serious portion of the discussion.

When he finally regained some control, he suggested, “I say we all go get something to eat. I burnt up a lot of energy beating Supes in our race. I’m really hungry.”

Felicity eagerly nodded in agreement. “I suggest Big Belly Burger. I could use a milkshake and a cheeseburger.”

Iris laughed and stood up, effectively ended the conversation. Plans were quickly made for meeting again at the restaurant, and the four couples filed back out to the back of the building.

As they were headed for the vehicles, it was Lois who slide her hand around Felicity’s arm this time.

“Thank you.”

Felicity looked at the other woman curiously. “For what?”

“For helping me stay calm through all of this. It’s a lot to take in.”

Felicity laughed, a quick flash of her own moment of revelation coming unbidden. “It is, but I find my life is so much richer than it would have been otherwise.”

“You’re fully a part of it, aren’t you?” Lois asked, sudden realization coming to her.

“Yes. I’m Team Arrow’s eyes and ears. You don’t want to know everything I’ve done over the years.” Felicity’s eyes widened slightly at even that admission, but Lois just chuckled.

“You’re right, but knowing that you have been keeping Oliver’s secret all this time gives me hope.”

“How so?”

“When Superman first showed up, I was overwhelmed. He was just incredible to me. Even learning that he was an alien didn’t make a difference. It felt just like my crush on the high school quarterback my junior year. Fortunately for me, Superman never encouraged my feelings. I eventually realized the folly of falling in love with a super-hero and got over it.

“It made it so much easier to actually consider Clark’s request for a date when he finally asked. He was just a normal guy – well, I thought – and I was ready for something real. That’s why it became increasingly easy to reject the idea that he might be Superman, even when something happened to lead me back to that conclusion.

“When Selina pointed out that Clark had to be Superman, I almost panicked. But then I realized that all three of you are already in a relationship with someone living the same kind of dual life that Clark leads. It was just enough to pull me back from the edge.

“Don’t get me wrong, Clark and I need to talk. But I think it’s the kind of conversation that all couples have to have at some point. And I realized that because you’ve obviously been there.”

“Well, I’ve never considered Oliver and I a normal couple, but I’m glad we provided a helpful example for you. It took us a while, but once Oliver realized that he was still entitled to have a normal life, we have been able to make things work for us.”

Lois nodded, but the conversation was obviously at an end. Clark was standing next to the Iris’s SUV waiting for Lois and Oliver was holding open the door on his Porsche. Everyone finished loading up the cars and once Barry finished closing up the building the group headed back to Central City.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the time being, this is the last of the Conversations stories. I am tempted to do both the WW meet and the Aquaman meet. I can guarantee they will be nothing like the Justice League movie. Other than that, I really haven't envisioned anything specific like I had this one.
> 
> I could also see pulling Flash S4's Elongated Man into this. Ralph (comic book and TV versions) is the best!
> 
> I should also make a couple of notes about the influences of this story. The Lois and Clark relationship is heavily influenced by the Superman stories told by John Byrne when he rebooted Superman in the mid-1980s. It was his stories that influenced the "Lois and Clark" show, especially the early seasons. The Batman and Catwoman dynamic comes directly from the current Batman book being written by Tom King. Strangely enough, there is a fair amount of Arrow's Oliver in King's portrayal of Bruce Wayne: he carries the burdens of his actions and choices more heavily than any other Batman I've ever read. Selina is his counterpoint and prevents him from losing his way.
> 
> As always I would love to know what you think. Especially if there's any potential for more of this nonsense.

**Author's Note:**

> As always comments and feedback are appreciated. Let me know what you think.


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